Posted on 07/30/2022 6:43:38 PM PDT by xp38
CHICAGO — Someone in a Chicago suburb beat the odds and won a $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot.
According to megamillions.com, there was one jackpot-winning ticket in the draw Friday night, and it was bought at a Speedway gas station and convenience store in Des Plaines.
The winning numbers were: 13-36-45-57-67, Mega Ball: 14.
“We are thrilled to have witnessed one of the biggest jackpot wins in Mega Millions history,” Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald, the current Lead Director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement on the lottery’s website. “We’re eager to find out who won and look forward to congratulating the winner soon!”
The jackpot was the nation’s third-largest lottery prize. It grew so large because no one had matched the game’s six selected numbers since April 15. That’s 29 consecutive draws without a jackpot winner.
The $1.337 billion prize is for winners who choose the annuity option, paid annually over 29 years. Most winners opt for the cash option, which for Friday night’s drawing was an estimated $780.5 million. Earlier, Illinois Lottery officials had estimated the winning take at $1.28 billion.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million.
According to the Illinois Lottery, the store that sold the ticket is a pretty big winner, too; it will receive half a million dollars just for selling the ticket. A clerk at the Speedway store who answered the phone but declined to give his name, said the store has not been officially notified officially that it sold the winning ticket and that he learned about it from reporters calling for comment.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The game is coordinated by state lotteries.
Illinois is among the states where winners of more than $250,000 can choose to not reveal their names and Camelot Illinois spokeswoman Emilia Mazur said the vast majority of those winners do just that.
Even lottery officials may not know for a while who won because winners don’t have to come forward straight away. And the winning ticket may have been bought by a group of people.
“We won’t know whether it’s an individual or its a lottery pool until the winner comes forward to claim their prize,” National Mega Millions spokeswoman Danielle Frizzi-Babb said.
Emily Irwin, managing director, Advice & Planning, at Wells Fargo’s Wealth & Investment Management, said Friday that the winner should consider keeping a low profile and resist going on an eyebrow-raising spending spree that everyone knows the winner cannot afford.
“This is not the time to start calling everybody you know, saying, ‘Hey, I have big secret. Can you keep it?”’ Irwin said.
This is necessary to avoid being inundated with requests for money.
“There are scammers and others who follow big winners,” she said, admitting that sudden wealth can put a lottery winner in physical danger.
“Privacy equals safety,” she said.
One thing the winner must do immediately is sign the ticket. That’s because if the ticket hasn’t been signed then it really isn’t yours. If the winner loses an unsigned ticket and another person finds it and signs it, the ticket now belongs to them.
Irwin suggests a step further to survive a legal battle over ownership.
“Take a Polaroid of you holding it and (put) it in a safe deposit box or somewhere else safe,” she said.
Pratik Patel, the head of Family Wealth Strategies at BMO Family Office in Chicago, said the winner should work with a financial planner to map out their future.
“I would run a Monte Carlo market simulation,” Patel said, explaining that this is an analysis of what a winner’s annual income might be and what the proceeds from various investments might be. “What you’re doing is using analytics to inform your spending.”
Frizzi-Babb agrees that talking to a financial planner is a good idea.
“I would suggest that you do that before you even set foot in a lottery office,” the national lottery spokeswoman said.
There is also a question nobody wants to answer at that particular time: What happens to the money when you die?
Irwin said don’t leave this unanswered; you must take action to ensure the bulk of your estate goes to your beneficiaries rather than the government.
Article content “You need a manager who specializes in this and understands this world,” said Patel. “Someone making $60,000 a year might need a certain type of professional manager and they may want to switch to someone who does ultra wealth.”
Whatever the winner does, it is important to do it slowly.
“You can absolutely indulge but let’s be smart about it,” Patel said. “It’s a lot of money but until you figure out what you can afford, there are still limitations.”
For example, he said, consider chartering a private jet before diving in and buying one.
“You may be interested in owning your favorite basketball team,” he warned, “but maybe that isn’t a good idea if it uses up all your money.”
Lotteries are like tobacco. A regressive tax on working people. Liberals love it. Any way to separate people from their money. On the other hand I could think of a lot of ways to spend this money....
Zelenskyyyy probably would like a donation from the winner. Only half of it.
Jake or Elwood?
What is this? 1974?
I guess the Daguerreotype studio is closed on the weekend.
Good one!
If the winner decides to take the $780.5 million lump sum, approximately $187.3 million in federal taxes would be withheld, in addition to $38.6 million in state taxes. That would mean an estimated take-home payout of $554.6 million.
I’m guessing the winner will be buying a one-way ticket out of Des Plaines real soon.
Or...13,370 x $100,000 prizes...I’d buy a lot of tickets.
And, I bet, a lot MORE people would play.
A local radio show had an official from the Ohio Lottery on during a big prize run a few years ago. One of the callers proposed that. He said that the state does have lower value draws in the few million range and says that the sales aren't nearly as big as the Mega Millions and Power Ball. People want the big prize.
I admit that I was a sucker for this and bought a few tickets. When the saleslady asked which I wanted, I told her the Mega Millions because who wants to win a mere $100 million on Power Ball. It's hardly worth the effort to pick up the check if I had won that. She laughed at my admitted silliness of which level of more money than I could ever spend I wanted.
I could scrape by on a half a billion... for a little while anyway.
TAkE a POLAROID???
Didn’t even know they still have film for such !!!!
= = =
Well, I’ll bet for 1.337 billion, I could get some such film.
Maybe even have Polaroid factory rebuilt.
if i won id spend it recklessly on things that won’t last, just so i can get back to normal living as quick as possible-
Polaroid would appear to be back.
https://us.polaroid.com/
Lol!
A. DesPlaines is many miles from Chicago and a nice, prosperous town.
B. No one knows who he or she is. If I won a big pile, I wouldn’t want the general public to know. Just friends and family.
I had already picked out a very lovely $700.000 home to buy within a mile of my apartment, friends, stores I like, the gym and the library. Besides that and new furniture, and a new car, I’d keep a few mil and with the rest support charities I believe in like Sheldrick Wildlife Reserve in Africa that rescues and raises orphan elephants and rhinos. Started by Dame Sheldrick a Brit noblewoman a long time ago, they do excellent work. My daughter adopted a year-old elephant for me as a birthday gift. Best present ever. Local humane society no-kill shelter, and other worthwhile and vetted animal organizations.
Daughter and son-in law get a couple of mil, and local Union Gospel Mission too. They do excellent work, and after the lockdowns, so many people are homeless and in need of help.
Of course, no-one gets lump sums. I guess trusts would be set up for each one.
It will be years before that winner sees any money..That state is infamous for holding on to the money..They always claim they have no budget,so they can’t give you you winnings.....
Never even thought about that. Illinois is famous for giving out IOUs.
I won big on that lottery. A whopping $4.
$1.337 billion? Imagine all of the Hunter Biden paintings a person could buy with that.
In my case I didn’t play since the tickets aren’t available where I live. If anything this news just makes me thankful for the blessings I do have. One basically buys a period of fantasy when one buys a ticket. A period of reflection of one’s values and maybe a need to reorder them. That might be the biggest value of all.
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