Mega Millions Jackpot Winner Redeems $348 Million Prize, Will Buy Zero-Turn Lawnmower
The winner of the $348 million Mega Millions prize that was won in the June 27 drawing of the game has emerged. But their identity will remain a secret.
Thirteen states allow lottery winners to stay anonymous, including Virginia. Winners of all prizes, including jackpots, must consent to their identities being included in the public record in the majority of lottery states. Most lottery states believe that removing anonymity improves the public's opinion of the lottery's credibility.
Winners of awards up to $1 million in Virginia are allowed to stay anonymous. The unnamed redemption opportunity is being used by the winner of the largest lottery fortune in Commonwealth history.
Redeemed Mega Millions Jackpot
A single ticket sold in Virginia on June 27 matched the five white balls and gold Mega Ball, following 20 draws without a jackpot winner. In addition to the gold Mega Ball 2, the numbers were 18, 21, 29, 42, and 50.
The Corner Mart Exxon petrol station, located at 14878 Northumberland Highway in Heathsville, beside the Chesapeake Bay, is where the life-altering play was bought. The winner brought the winning ticket into the Virginia Lottery headquarters in Richmond approximately four weeks later.
The $155.6 million one-time cash option was chosen by the winner, who asked to remain anonymous. The winner's net payoff, after Virginia's 5.75% cut and 37% federal taxes, was almost $89 million.
According to lottery organizers, the winner intends to purchase a zero-turn lawnmower. In the upcoming days and weeks, anyone in the region who buys one of these lawnmowers will probably be suspected of being the just minted multimillionaire.
The Corner Mart petrol station was rewarded with a $50,000 commission bonus for selling the winning Mega Millions ticket.
At 11 p.m. ET on Friday, the Mega Millions will be drawn once more. The pre-tax cash option is worth $89.3 million, but the stated prize is $198 million. The annuitized jackpot for the Saturday Powerball drawing is $565 million. Since May 31, Powerball has not struck.
The Jackpocket Record
A Massachusetts Lottery player who used the courier service won $4 million on a scratcher Thursday, according to Jackpocket, which was purchased by DraftKings for $750 million in 2004.
Using the Jackpocket mobile app, the user won the top prize in the "$4,000,000 Monopoly Doubler" scratch-off. The game is a $10 scratch-off. There is a 1 in 3,780,000 chance of earning the top prize.
Through its courier service, Jackpocket provides scratch-off transactions in Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, and Oregon.
The state lotteries have teamed with Jackpocket to enable scratch-offs to become digital plays. The courier scans both sides of the ticket, including the serial number and watermarked barcode, when they buy the scratcher for the Jackpocket customer.
The ticket is digitized for play after being uploaded to the player's Jackpocket app. To see the ticket's result, the player "scratches" it; no quarters are needed. Jackpocket notifies the player if they have won after automatically verifying the ticket. Their earnings are credited to their Jackpocket account if they did.
