ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Christopher McGurran overnight went from living a modest life to living large.
The 30-year-old and his wife claimed the $50 million Powerball jackpot drawn last month in St. Petersburg.
"It's always somebody, someplace else, and you wonder if somebody won it. It's nice," said neighbor Bud Patten.
McGurran, a heating and cooling technician, bought the winning ticket at a Sweetbay grocery store just minutes from his home. Little did he know at the time that it would be his golden one.
The winning ticket was a Quick Pick.
"One of the mission statements of Sweetbay is to support our community. What better way to do that than to give somebody in our community $50 million," said assistant store manager Owen Henry.
He won't quite get $50 million, lottery officials say. He opted for the lump sum payout of $32.4 million.
Despite the figures, officials say he and his wife were calm while collecting the winnings. They've already reached out to financial advisors for help dealing with all that cash.
"They were prepared for this. They were subdued, but they were excited. I asked them what they did for living and now they said they're both retired," said David Bishop, deputy secretary of the Florida Lotto.
Their stroke of luck is spurring others at the Sweetbay to get their tickets there, hoping for lightning to strike twice.
The Sweetbay store, located at 2139 34th Street North, will receive a bonus incentive of $25,000 for selling the winning ticket.
Congrats
Quick Pick eh 
$32.4 Million can buy alot of cheeseburgers
Nice win. 32.4 million after bloated government got their share. And the store gets a $25k tip.
Yay for quick picks.
That's what I call a "quicker picker-up'er"
That $32.4 Million is before the government gets their share.
There's no way they'd let him keep that much money.
50 million is the annuitized jackpot. The winner opted for the 32.4 million lump sum but they will never see that amount because 25% is taken out for tax withholding and even more taxes will be due April 2014. With a top federal tax rate of 39.6%, they will get to keep roughly 19.5 million. Good thing for the winner Florida has no state tax on lottery prizes unlike New Jersey which tacks on an additional 10.8%.
Congratulations to this last jackpot winner in the year 2012.
Congratulations to the McGurrans.Hopefully they can enjoy their jackpot without the leeches coming out of the woodwork to ruin it for them.
Sheesh, with that much being taxed, and at only 30 yrs old, you'd be hard pressed to live large on $16m for the rest of your life. Comfortable yes.
Congrats to the winners, and congrats for living in a state with no income tax.
16 mil is nothing to sneeze at but my issue is the 50 million annuitized jackpot is usually what is advertised on billboards and the number that grabs all the headlines. Little do most people know what they'd actually win after taxes isn't even close to the advertised amount. In other parts of the world like Canada and Europe, the advertised amount is exactly what you get since money won from the lottery is 100% tax free.
Spend 1 M on a house and furnishings and put 15 M in a low risk tax free investment. He'd get at least 200K per year right now, even at today's low rates, and that's tax free. If he can't live really well on that amount, with no mortgage payment, there's something wrong. When the return rates go back up to 6% like they were 10 years ago, he'll be getting 900K tax free. And his initial 15 M stays untouched.
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. McGurran......
I love the idea of tax free lottery winnings. The reason behind my belief is that winner will spend that money in this economy and will end up paying sales taxes, property taxes, excise taxes, capital gains taxes and dividend taxes, interest taxes
Well thank God they ain't no tax on moonshine!
That's what I heard anyway.
I really wouldn't know.
Never seen the stuff around here, that's for sure.
Probably ain't none around here for a hundred miles.
Never will be neither.
I don't know, I think you bear a striking resemblance to one of the dudes on the Discovery Channel reality series "Moonshiners".
He's not taxed on $50 Million. $50 Million is an ANNUITIZED jackpot, the lottery doesn't hide that. He is taxed on his $34.2 Million. This is something you'd think you wouldn't have to explain to people on a lottery website, but people like riling themselves up for whatever reason.
Cash payouts (before state income tax) are 75% of the advertised CASH VALUE. Mega Millions CASH VALUE is usually around 56-58% of the advertised annutized jackpots. There's a "Jackpot Analysis" link on the main page (if you come from USAMEGA) that gives a breakdown of payouts for different states. That information has only been on USAMEGA since forever.
Thx fer splainin..........
You can be certain, that's just a stunt double.......
Actually, the cash payout is not a certain percentage. It is the amount of cash, invested in "secured" gov't bonds today, it would take to make the annuity payments. Because the interest on gov't bonds is so low, the present cash value has increased dramatically. I think you should ALWAYS take the cash option because gov't bonds may become useless in the future, ESPECIALLY at the rate America is currently spending money...
Finally, someone with a brain speaks up.... Thank you rooster8786
"This is something you'd think you wouldn't have to explain to people on a lottery website"
No one has to explain anything around here but someone is always volunteering to do so. This is the place to be if you don't know much.
Hey ridge, when you sending my next shipment of 'shine??? I put the check in the mail!
OOPS!
Never mind everybody. Nevermind.
(Uh...ridge, I'll send you a pm).