Sole winner of behemoth jackpot comes forward just before the cash option claims deadline
By Kate Northrop
The winner of the third-largest lottery jackpot in history, the $1.6 billion Mega Millions prize won by one single ticket in Florida last month, has stepped forward to claim the prize.
Officials revealed on Wednesday that the $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot won in August has been claimed, albeit anonymously.
In Florida, lottery winners have 60 days from the draw date to claim a jackpot prize as the cash option. After that, they can still claim it as an annuity 180 days from the draw date.
The winner came forward with just over a week before the cash option claims deadline, which landed on Oct. 7. The drawing took place on Tues., Aug. 8, 2023.
However, Florida Lottery officials did not reveal whether the winner chose the $783.3 million lump sum or annuity option of the jackpot. That information is not being published at this time, a Lottery spokesperson told Lottery Post. It will be made public after the temporary window of anonymity has passed.
The winner does not yet have to worry about revealing their name to the public, but it will eventually be known. Florida's partial privacy laws allow a winner to delay release of their information for a period of 90 days following the claim, but the public will eventually find out the identity of the winner.
Since there is no state tax on lottery winnings in Florida, the prize would only be subject to federal tax. If they did choose to take the jackpot as a cash option, they would walk away with $500.38 million in total, according to USA Mega.
Some outlets have reported that a $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot has been claimed — this is actually the outdated jackpot estimate from before the drawing took place. The $1.602 billion figure is the real amount after sales were calculated.
Lottery Post maintains a complete list of lottery winner anonymity laws state-by-state (as well as in several other countries).
The Mega Millions jackpot currently stands at $267 million for the next drawing on Fri., Sept. 29 at 11:00 pm Eastern Time.
Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 pm Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
The Mega Millions winning numbers are published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the drawing takes place.
I'm confused. The news article above says that the Florida Lottery did not reveal whether or not the winner chose the lump sum cash option or the annuity. Yet their website has a Jackpot Winners and Retailer Information Report on it showing the winner took the cash option. Here's a link to it.
https://www.flalottery.com/exptkt/MegaMillions_Jackpot_Retailer_Info.pdf
What's up with that?
In addition to claiming anonymously I hope they hired a lawyer to claim it for them via a trust or an LLC. If so, then it'll probably be very difficult to learn who the real winner actually is. The Florida Lottery may not even update that report with any additional information after the 90 day anonyminity period has expired. They do have the option of waiting to see if a member of the general public inquires as to who won the jackpot. G5
As stated in the article, a Florida Lottery official directly confirmed that they are not sharing the info at this time. That PDF may totally be correct, and the Florida Lottery may have mistakenly published it, but that cannot be confirmed without official word from the lottery. It is also possible that the PDF is incorrect.
That said, of course they almost certainly took the cash option. But as a journalist to write that as fact in a published article without confirmation would be irresponsible.
And we know that the majority of journalists today are always so factually responsible and trustworthy.
Congrats to the winner(s) of this massive sum.
Enjoy your next 80 some odd days of anonymity... I hope you/your group are well prepared for the onslaught that is coming your way.
My guess is that they took the cash option too.
You're right - there are any number of unconfirmed possibilities as to what actually happened to write anything other than what they officially said. G5
I wish all journalists were that responsible.
I was a bit curious on the 90 day anonymity FL law and if the state posted name automatically or it had to be done through a FOI records request. So using LP 's anonymity posting it lead me to the FL lottery sight stating,"Beginning May 25, 2022, the names of Lottery winners claiming prizes of $250,000 or greater will be temporarily exempt from public disclosure (pursuant to F.S.24.1051(3)(a)) for 90 days from the date the prize is claimed, unless otherwise waived by the winner"
I went to that statue( Exemptions from inspection or copying of public records) and it revealed this:
(2) The street address and the telephone number of a winner are confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution, unless the winner consents to the release of such information or as provided for in s. 24.115(4) or s. 409.2577.
(3)(a) The name of a winner of a prize valued at $250,000 or more is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution for 90 days from the date the prize is claimed, unless the winner consents to the release of his or her name or as provided for in s. 24.115(4) or s. 409.2577. After 90 days, the winner’s name is no longer confidential and exempt. (b) This subsection is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2027, unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
What else drew my interest was how the state of FL at the start of this statute protects and completely exempts "Information that, if released, could harm the security or integrity of the department".
Just wondering why wouldn't they worry as much if not more about the winning players security for more than 90 days with Billion dollar jackpots becoming so frequent?
Keep at em Florida residents and get the full anonymity !!
It's no wonder people choose to claim anonymously. Still others keep prying to reveal the winner. Then they decide how the winners money should be spent. We only need to know where the ticket was sold, and that it was claimed.
YES
Thank You... Nobody else needs to know anything else about the winner.
IF== BIG IF they wanted everyone to know they would be like dude in CA and keep the whole world up to date with every Penny he spends and every move he makes! Suppose 15 minutes of fame is Not enough for some...
Personally I wouldn't want anyone to know no matter how much we won.
If ever we won a lot we would only keep enough to live on and enjoy time together. We don't need much, the rest we would make Donation's and Help out those who REALLY Need Help!
Appreciate CDanaT informative post on Florida statutes..interesting!
A published PDF on the official website IS technically the ownership of that site..ergo, it's their written summation.
All in good time the persons' public name maybe shared. One of the rare times that I hope it's a group.
Hmm....let's see:
$783,000,000M x 5.46% in a 1yr treasury would yield approximately $42,768,180 per year income.
Not bad!
"My guess is that they took the cash option too."
Makes sense because if the winner wanted payments, they could have waited longer to validate their ticket. It takes two to three weeks after the drawing to collect so that should not be the problem. When to validate a jackpot winning ticket is not "one size fits all" and all the more reason for as much anonymity as any lottery can apply.
I dunno about y'all, but I am still curious about the PB winning ticket supposedly linked to this woman:
Time will tell, I suppose.
I think she was just a drama queen and wanted the attention.
I think you are right there is no way Florida lottery mistakenly entered "cash option" for so many winners and forgot to update the actual winner's info after the 90 day time frame. I think once the winner claims the prize as a Trust or LLC it stays that way. *interested people would have to go digging into the members of the Trust and LLC.