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
But unfortunately our Government loves getting these tax dollars so they can waste it among themselves.
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.
Lots of voluntary explaining going on round here.......
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).
Yea, a 10.8 % tax law that was passed in the middle of the night and not reported on by the so called vigilant media.
If that's not bad enough it was made retroactive to the first day of the year it was passed, (2009 ?)
because someone here hit a big JP on 1 of the multi-state games, MM I think, and greedy jersey missed out on the action.
But the retro made up for it.
And Caused a major tax headache for the winner.
How did it happen ?
simple, one person, even one w/a big lottery win can't fight the lawmakers and no one else cares, especially non-players.
also media don't care about players cause not the general populace.
I saw no editorial about the retro part either, and that is inexcusable.
Keep that shine flowin like a river my friends..........
I have a friend on payroll who is paying an extra $110. per month in payroll taxes as of this week.
That's on a $50k income................. I don't do fundamental mathematics, but it sounds like a bunch.
" 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."
"That information has only been on USAMEGA since forever."
Sorry we made you so mad, Mr Johnson.
Is there any way we can make it up to you?
There's a difference between living large and living comfortable. I never said he could not live well. I just said that at the age of 30, and retired, he can live comfortable for the rest of his life. Live large? Buying fancy cars every year or so? Buying multiple lux vacation homes or lux vacations? No. Comfortable and worry free? Yes.
At the age of 30, the temptation to live large is, well, large.
You already make it up to me by reading my post and educating yourself. Jackpot Analysis has the answers you are looking for.
that is a good reason. Another reason is the lottery player is taking all the risk when they spend their money on lottery tickets and the government takes no risk. When the lottery player picks the wrong numbers he loses his money, the government loses nothing but if somehow the lottery player picks the right numbers and wins the jackpot, the government takes half.
It's funny, most people consider Canada and Europe to be more socialist than the United States, meaning to say Canada and Europe have more social welfare programs than the US but even then Canada and Europe allow their winners to keep all of their lottery money without imposing any tax.
That's super!!!
Thank you, Mr Johnson!!!
Now we're happy shiny people again, yay!!!
Just out of curiosity, what how much would someone need to have to "live large" by your standards? He will be able to live "well" or "comfortable and worry free" I would also propose that he can live large as well. My god, he now has about $20 million in cash. A good money manager can get well above some of the $200k/year interest some here have thrown around if he's willing to put some of it in more aggressive investments.
Congrats to the winner! Wish it was me.
Enjoy the money and remember that you had an extreme stroke of luck that most will only dream about.
Don't blow it all in 5 years like other winners.
Congrats, alot of bank to play with
Congratulations to the McGurran family.
Godspeed.
Thanks, whiteballz, for providing the FULL picture (our only member cleaver enough to know AND post thus far). It was necessary, as even the excellent "jackpot analysis" page on usamega.com doesn't mention the VITAL 39.6% eventual/full Federal Income Tax Rate that all jackpot winners of $1M+ amounts will have to face (admin could inform us at the top of the page; displaying in January each year the current top federal income tax bracket is changed, writing in italics, yet not necessarily adding into their figures below if they insist on only showing the U.S.A. Federal Government's 1st of 2 unequal income tax deductions)! Certainly, if the jackpot winner doesn't donate or have deductions that etch away at this spread over that initial, smaller deceptive 25% withholding, they will be shocked when their tax account goes to pay any short-falls during the following year!
In reading the many other posts that discuss final amount, most members are displaying their continued misunderstanding of this extra up to 14.5% in Income Taxes probably due later. Not much help to them self/household/group if they are running #s for their annual business and life plans come January each year.
Most importantly ... congratulations on your exciting Powerball jackpot win McGurrans!!!