$32 million Mega Millions ticket claimed in LA area

Wonder how long she walked around with the ticket in purse. Can't remain anonymous in Cali? Too bad...

Congrats to the winner! Always like stories like this. 

Holla Dollar! What more can we do to win "something"?

Yeah, what makes me really jealous is when they say they never played before, played $1.00 and didn't even know how to check the numbers!

What more do I need to do God?

I clean my room, feed the dog, nice to my neighbors and co-workers, love my kid, buy girl scout cookies, don't park in handicap spaces, pay my taxes, hold doors open at the grocery store for the people coming in or out behind me, and pray, pray, pray. 

And still no LUCK!!!

I resemble this guy!!!

I don't think anyone believes it's better to play for lower jackpots. They do, however, see it as smarter not to put all your eggs in one basket (ie; the larger jackpot instead of the smaller and the larger).

And try telling this lady she was a sucker for playing a "small" jackpot and only winning $18,000,000. And that she should have skipped on buying that QP for that measly draw amount when instead she should be saving up for the $100+ million draws. I'm sure if she could take it all back she would.

I agree with the tax amount, but I think all states that have state income taxes should follow California's example and NOT tax lottery winnings.  If I were elected to Congress or the Presidency, I would introduce legislation or push Congress to exempt lottery winnings from federal taxes. I would more than offset that loss of revenue by legalizing and taxing MJ and other illicit drugs as well as prostitution of all types except underage, of course (minimum age will be same  as legal age of consent). Let lucky people enjoy the full amount of their winnings just like Canadians and Brits.  The war on drugs is a losingproposition that we need to fight by legalizing and taxing just like we did with alcohol. For those who don't know, violence was high due to black market alcohol during Prohibition. Do we still have gangs fighting over alcohol territory? NO, and the same will occur when we legalize all drugs and prostitution. Those who object on moral grounds should note that prostitution is legal in The Netherlands, Canada, parts of UK, and even Singapore and MJ possession is legal in Portugal, The Netherlands, and other places that have not gone to hell with chaos, violence, and corruption.  Yet, it seems corruption reigns supreme in countries that outlaw both.

I think Americans have become cowards hiding behind their moral high horses.  Under my watch, a lottery winner of a $241 million jackpot would be able to enjoy all $241 million, and celebrate by smoking a blunt and getting a legal knob job!  Can I count on your support?

OldSchoolPa's lottery dream!

You can count on my support, I have convinced my state of NH to adopt the slogan "Live Free Or Die", and to abolish state tax on any lottery

winnings. The only hurdle left is to legalize all illicit drugs, so that the crack heads of our nation can find refuge, peace and a welcome warm

welcome mat to our prestigious and tolerant state. 

Congratulations to the winner....

First off,I wasn't saying that California SHOULD tax lottery winnings.I was just wondering out loud WHY THEY DON"T tax lottery winnings when their state is BANKRUPT.

Secondly,I don't advocate the legalizing of ALL drugs because I've seen what drugs do to people.Legalizing marijuana is one thing but legalizing other drugs is quite another thing altogether.I don't  and won't lump ALL drugs into the the same catagory as harmless drugs.Marijuana is harmless in its natural form but when it is laced with PCP or other chemicals it becomes dangerous.The trouble is,how do you know what or if the joint you purchase is laced with an illegal substance?People do die (or worse) from ingesting illegal chemicals into their systems everyday.Find a way for people to take meth safely and I might go along with your stupid argument to legalize ALL drugs,but until you can prove to me that a meth user won't flip out because of the crap that he put into his/her body,I will vote to continue making the drug illegal!Anytime that you use drano or other caustic substances to produce a drug you are playing with fire.Anyone who would injest a concoction of battery acid and drano isn't exactly playing with a full deck of cards and really shouldn't be taken seriously in a discussion on the legalizing of drugs.I don't buy into the argument that its their body and they can put what they want into it because they aren't hurting anyone but themselves.There isn't a day that goes by that I don't read where a methhead has flipped out and killed their entire family or some other horriffic crime that was drug related.I know to many people that are addicted to this poison to turn a blind eye to the problem.I know to many people that have gone through "rehab" time after time to no avail.I know to many people who have committed suicide because of this supposedly harmless drug.So don't tell me about legalizing ALL drugs.It's an insane idea.INSANE!

They should legalize white lightnin' before anything else.

Not that it matters to me.

I went into the store to purchase a $1 Mega Millions ticket and saw that they recently sold a winning lottery tickets for $24,000 and $240,000 respectively!

I am hoping that the trend continues!

GREEN WITH MONEY ................ THE WAY TO GO ..............

You need to adopt a reverse plan of action Golfer. Just shout out to the lottery Gods, that you really don't give a dam if you should ever win!!! 

Being nice is nice, but trying not holding the door one time for that little old lady, maybe this reverse Karma will help to boomerang your luck.     

That's the 2nd straight Mega Millions Jackpot winning ticket sold in California in the year 2012.

Quite a few states don't tax lottery winnings because they already got their cut of the pie since the predominant amount of lottery revenue goes to the state's education fund, with administrative costs and winning payouts accounting for the rest.

Mind you, just because they already took a slice of pie hasn't always stopped states (or the federal government) from taking some more.  But at least a lot of states do recognize that since they take in the lion's share of lottery money right off the bat, they don't need to double dip.

Here is California, they take out 25% in federal tax withholding for large jackpots, and this $32M win will definitely put the winner in the highest tax bracket (35%) so she will likely have to fork over another 10% at tax time, because at that point even typical deductions like home mortgage interest don't amount to much compared to the jackpot.  It would take a lot to even get a 1% reduction based on deductions, because that is already $3.2M, which is quite a bit of mortgage interest, charitable contribution, etc.

Not that I wouldn't enjoy having the problem of having to pay taxes on $32M.  I'm just saying that the reality is that you'd have to pay almost all of the 35% due from that bracket due to the ratio of deductions to AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) which in this case would be a much larger number than the average bear earns annually.

Just to clean up my mistakes:

I meant "Here in California"

and the 1% would be $320K, which is still a lot for one year's worth of home mortgage interest, etc.

But, again, it wouldn't be a bad problem to have, to have to pay $11.2M in taxes in one year.  Wait, did I just say that?

Let me backtrack and change it to I GUESS that it would feel good to be in position to pay that much tax.  That's one of the reasons that they withhold 25% from the big lotto check.  That way, they have their $8M and only a paltry amount of about $3M would have to be paid later, so it doesn't seem to sting as much while writing that check to the IRS.

congrat.............cindy huynh

i guess she is first vietnamese won the JP IN USA