Winner chooses to remain anonymous
BALTIMORE, Md. — At approximately 10 p.m. Tuesday evening, before going to bed, a Mt. Airy, Maryland, man jokingly told his fiancée they were going to wake up as millionaires. One hour later, while they were sound asleep, that premonition became a reality.
When the woman woke up the next morning, she went online to check her tickets and realized they were $26 million richer. Before calling her fiancé, she had her daughter check the numbers on the ticket, too.
"I am still in denial," said the grandmother-of-two who chose to remain anonymous. "I even drove by the store the next day to see if it was real. One look at the parking lot with all the news vans and I knew it was true."
The lucky winner, who babysits her grandchildren, playfully told her daughter that she could no longer watch the kids — unless it was at the beach. That's because the 48-year-old retiree plans to buy a beach house — or two. "This will be the first time anyone from our family has ever owned a home," the winner told Lottery officials. "There have been so many winners in Western Maryland lately, we're glad we were one of them."
To win the jackpot, the winner matched all five numbers, plus the Mega Ball. After choosing the cash option, they will take home $12.6 million after taxes.
The winning ticket was purchased at Mt. Airy Shell, located at 649 Lakeview Dr. in Mt. Airy. For selling the winning ticket, the retailer will receive a $26,000 commission.
This is the first Mega Millions jackpot win in Maryland since three public education employees shared the $218.6 million portion of the record-breaking $656 million jackpot from March 2012.
The multi-state Mega Millions game is played in 44 states and jurisdictions. Mega Millions drawings are held on Tuesday and Friday evenings at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The winning numbers are published minutes later at USA Mega (www.usamega.com), a Web site devoted to the multi-state Mega Millions and Powerball games.
Congrats to the winners! Wow retired at 48 even before hitting the jackpot. I'm 48, where did I go wrong???
You choose to live in New Hampshire.
Congrats to the lucky couple, I hope they enjoy a nice retirement.
Way to go!
Lol! Gotta take the good with the bad though. It could be much worse, I could live in one of a few other neighboring states which will remain nameless.
I sure wished that anonymous law would of passed in michigan...............worthless lawmakers!
"I am still in denial," said the grandmother-of-two who chose to remain anonymous.
Very wise move!
Congratulation to the winner....
retired from a life of public service.
Congrats to the lucky couple.
Really (except for here as well). It would be nice to find out you won and have no worries about claiming ASAP.
Congrats to the winners, I'm sure being able to collect so soon made the win all that much sweeter.
"48 year old retiree" lol. must have already had lots of money if she was retired at 48.
The Post Office & AT&T were offering people a severance to take early retirement, perhaps she is one of them.Nevertheless l hope they enjoy their winnings.
* Remaining Anonymous should be a choice.
Congrats to the lucky winner.
I could handle retiring to a beach house....
Great story, this is what its all about
Doubt it, unless she likes to rent.. Said she never owned a house.
Here's the most expensive home listed on the market in Mt. Airy, MD for $1.150M. It has 4/bd, 5/ba, on 29 acres. Since the winners only took home $12.6M after taxes I wouldn't spend this much.
I'll take this one for $427K: 4/bd, 3/ba, 2560 sq ft, on 0.34 acres.
Opps, they want a beach house! I found one on a lake in Pasadena, MD: Only $2.15M, 4/bd, 5/ba, 4000 sq ft.
That house looks a lot larger than 4,000 sf from the picture. Nice house, but way too big for me!
I think all states should allow the winner to remain anonymous, but just let me win and I'll tell you how stressful it is to be in the news!
me
golfer 1960 now cut out posting all those interesting houses
you know you can always move.
Congrats! to them, spend wisely.
i like the house but not enough bedrooms.
Californy is the place you ought to be.
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.
Hills, that is. Swimmin pools, movie stars.
12+ after taxes is a nice payday!
Wow! I could become a 60 year-old grandfather of 2 only if my soon-to-be born son knocks up a girl with twins by the time he turns 16.
She may have retired at 48 or before but did not have enough money to buy a house until winning the lottery. So there is retirement in which one drives what you want, live where you want, travels where you want, and does what you want, or retirement in which you are no longer working but just paying bills sitting at home. The latter sounds like her type of Pre lottery win retirement.