$250M lotto mystery is talk of Rutherford

Sep 19, 2005, 11:05 am (22 comments)

Mega Millions

The Mega Millions winner watch in Rutherford, New Jersey, entered day two yesterday with much anticipation but without anyone stepping forward to claim the $250 million jackpot.

Yogi Patel, owner of the Leprechaun News II store where the winning ticket was sold at about noon on Friday, bundled newspapers in twine and spoke of the newfound fame for his business.

"People are happy when they find out somebody won from my store," Patel said. "Business is increasing. People are now thinking this store is lucky."

Rutherford Council President George Fecanin said the mystery lottery winner was the talk of the town as he went door-to-door yesterday as part of his re-election campaign.

"The whole town is excited. Everybody's happy and they hope that somebody from Rutherford did win, and somebody who really needs it," Fecanin said. "It puts Rutherford on the map, a little town like Rutherford."

The winner, of course, may not be from the Bergen County borough because the Leprechaun News II is next door to the train station, after all.

"It could be somebody just coming through on the train, not a resident," Fecanin said.

Still, the town is abuzz and the answer to the million-dollar question could come as early as this morning when the state lottery offices open in Trenton.

"We've had people arrive in limos," said New Jersey Lottery spokesman Dominick DeMarco. "But they can drive themselves in their own cars, or if they're too nervous to drive they can get a friend to drive them. As long as they get there, it's fine."

The first thing lottery officials will do once a winner comes forward is check to make sure that the ticket is real and that it's held by its legitimate owner, he said.

"When there's a quarter of a billion dollars at stake, it's good to be sure," DeMarco said. In the interim, DeMarco recommended the winner sign the back of the ticket.

The winning numbers were 5, 16, 41, 46 and 50, with the gold Mega ball number 1. The cash value of the jackpot is $151,331,750, which, after federal taxes, would be worth about $113 million. If the winner selected the annuity option, the initial check would be $9,625,000 and with annual payments of $9,615,000 for 25 years.

Star-Ledger

Comments

qutgnt

What does the store owner in New Jersey get for this?

CASH Only

I heard $10,000. AFAIK the agent bonus would have been about $2.5 million (1%) if the ticket had been sold in Illinois.

fxsterling

i was at that train stop on a train thursday at 3pm  and thought the irish bar would make a good pit stop   but no my wife said    i bet the winner got his tic a 3pm 

Todd's avatarTodd

How would you have made a "pit stop" at that New Jersey deli from Atlanta?

delS

Everyone in Rutherford should just relax and let the winner get their affairs in order before they come forward.  Its not everyday a person wins $113,000,000. 

 

delS

fxsterling

todd look at my old posts  also that rain that day closed the hwy so i had to take the train    and got off at fair lawn   

fxsterling

  Todd could you also find out what day and time the w3inner was sold   

Chewie

The first thing lottery officials will do once a winner comes forward is check to make sure that the ticket is real and that it's held by its legitimate owner, he said.

That should take about 10 minutes. The ticket is real or it's not real. The ticket info matches the computerized record or it doesn't. I would imagine the officials have already printed the computer info and are waiting to match it. I also imagine they have a copy of the video tape of the purchase.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

It's times like this when people in a little town start to think of themselves as one big family and get excited about a member of the family winning millions of dollars.  Some even hope the winner is a nice generous family member who really needs it and will share it with others but the truth is no one really needs a $100,000,000.00 plus and they probably won't think of the town as their family.  They probably will avoid all those new recent family members by finding another place to live.

JONMOJON

The first thing lottery officials will do once a winner comes forward is check to make sure that the ticket is real and that it's held by its legitimate owner, he said.

That should take about 10 minutes. The ticket is real or it's not real. The ticket info matches the computerized record or it doesn't. I would imagine the officials have already printed the computer info and are waiting to match it. I also imagine they have a copy of the video tape of the purchase.

Does it mean that if I had someone buy a ticket for me, or I used a service like Primeticket service, I can't claim the prize? (for the video tape thing).

Todd's avatarTodd

JONMOJON,

If you played with Prime Ticket Service, their lawyer would be making the arrangements with you right now to hand the ticket off to you in person, and then you would take the ticket to the state lottery headquarters, where you would claim the prize in person.

A winning lottery ticket is a bearer document, meaning that the person who holds it and redeems it is the person who gets the prize -- not the person who buys it.

Todd's avatarTodd

By the way, for those wondering, you can go to Prime Ticket Service by clicking any of the Click a Game to Play links in the left navigation section of any LP page.

JONMOJON

Thank you, Todd. 

Unfortunately I didn't win.  Now I know what to do if I win Powerball,  I bought tickets through Primeticket Service.

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

  Todd could you also find out what day and time the w3inner was sold   

 

Todd could you also find out if "IT" was a Quick PICK???????????????????????

If it was....................................it wasn'ttttttttttttttttt mineeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

(3 & 1/2 months left in Q-PICKs)........maby December will be the to TIME/WIN.

LOL

PSYKOMO 

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