Includes video report
By Todd Northrop
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. — A New Jersey woman and her seven adult children have stepped forward to claim a $429.6 million Powerball jackpot.
Eight members of the Smith family announced that they had the sole winning ticket purchased in Trenton for last Saturday's drawing. They plan to tithe 10 percent of the money to their church.
The family was guarded about their employment, to protect their privacy. Valerie Marie Arthur, the eldest daughter and a retired prison administrator, spoke for the group. (See press conference raw footage below.)
The family matriarch, Pearlie Mae Smith, spent $6 for two tickets for drawings held last Wednesday and Saturday. They have hired attorneys to help them with the money and will take a trip to the usual family spot, though they wouldn't say where that was.
"We had a divine intervention give us the numbers, that's the only way you can explain that, how the numbers were chosen," Val Arthur said.
The chosen numbers came to the ticket-buyer in a dream, although the family declined to say whose dream it was.
Lottery officials say the family chose the lump sum cash payment over the annuity. So the $6 investment will yield $284 million in cash, before taxes.
"They spent $6 to win $284 million. That's a pretty good investment," Carole Hedinger, the New Jersey Lottery's executive director, said earlier this week.
Only one ticket matched all six Powerball numbers in Saturday night's drawing. The winning numbers were 5, 25, 26, 44, and 66, with Powerball number 9.
The family claimed the ticket under the name, "The Smith Family Lottery Group". The group members include:
- Pearlie Mae Smith (mom) of Trenton
- Valerie Marie Arthur of Trenton
- Steven Elliot Smith of Trenton
- Jacqueline Sessoms of Trenton
- Marsha-Ann Rebecca Smith of Trenton
- Tracy Angela Smith of Newark
- Katherine Nicole Nunnally of Newark
- Rene Bethina Smith of Trenton
"We are thrilled to meet the fortunate winners and I am extremely pleased that they heeded the recommendation to obtain professional assistance and advice to navigate this life-changing event," Hedinger said. The family also consulted with a life coach and met with previous jackpot winners to learn from their experiences.
"Friday the 13th is now a blessed day," Valerie said.
Mrs. Smith purchased the ticket from the 7-Eleven store, 750 Chambers Street, Trenton in Mercer County. She is a pastor in a church in Trenton and rarely gambles. She said that these numbers popped into her head and felt compelled to listen to the intuition. She purchased one game board for the Wednesday, May 4 drawing and one board for the Saturday, May 7 drawing, which was the winning ticket.
The retailer gets a $30,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
Most of the convenience store's customers are locals who come in a few times a week to buy coffee or a soda and maybe a sandwich or snack. That led area residents to speculate that the person who holds the winning ticket may be living among them.
The ticket is the largest single jackpot winning ticket sold in New Jersey and the sixth-largest in Powerball history.
Powerball is played in 44 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The odds of winning are one in 292.2 million.
RAW VIDEO: Watch the press conference
Editor: Sorry for the poor audio volume; please turn up the volume on your speakers. The NJ Lottery did not have a very good audio feed.
Congratulations to them stepping forward.
Congratulations to the Smith family
They say they plan to tithe to their church. Does that mean that they plan to go buy a farm and donate a tithe of the crops and every tenth sheep, goat and cow that passes under the rod? Read your bible folks!
They have hired attorneys to help them with the money and will take a trip to the usual family spot, though they wouldn't say where that was.
Hats off to the Smith family!!
Wish the best to the luckiest family in NEW JERSEY... and have fun and not too wild :)
That family will no doubt enjoy their new found wealth. I hope they have competent, ethical advisers who will formulate a long term goal/budget for each of them.
If they don't stray from these guidelines then life should be sweet for each one of them.
Always wondered: The back of the lottery ticket clearly states "One Name Only" to be written in. I assumed (if/when I hit the big one) that I would need to create a Trust or LLC in order to bring in the whole family into winner's circle (if family is reading, this in no way constitutes a promise of sharing all of the winnings!).
This brings up the question: Would the lottery accept a newly created entity (created after the winning draw) as a winner? How about the IRS?? This article brought up the questions in my mind as 8 family members share the jackpot. I'm sure that any capable attorney has a work-around these "problems" but anybody have any thoughts on the legal side of winning and wanting to share with family??
You living way in the past. That applied to the ancient Jews before their Great City fell to the Roman armies- another thing the name Smith is not Jewish... Just saying!
**When was the last time you brought a goat to your Church as a sacrificial offering?
Another Stroke of Luck: Having a Surname of Smith!
Most Common Surnames in the United States 1990 Census:
Smith
Johnson
Williams
Jones
UPDATE: The article has been updated with additional facts about the family and the win.
Excellent!!! I'm happy for them and glad it happened to this family!!
Congratulations!!!
Very happy for this family. Now their vacations will go from "pretty good" to "absolute kick-a__"!
This is what intrigues me. My question is, who dreamt the numbers? Which family member had the dream. They quoted as saying, "THEY came to US through a Dream"!Congrats to all of you for hitting the big time! Keep on working? Not me! I would quit in a heartbeat! Get out and travel and see the good ole USA!
If a lottery is holding a press conference for a lottery winner, they should at least ensure that the questions can be heard!
the splitting the prize at claiming is smart. there will be no complications with gift taxes. as to divine intervention, what devine being gave them the numbers? claiming on fri 13th gives me a clue. sounds like these people are all set up for a no problesm win and we shouldnt hear form them again... I look forward to hearing more.
prm199, i am with you on this one. I believe the Smiths are making a big mistake and violating the "gift tax" rule.
Don't they have to prove that this was a "partnership" before they are allowed to split the prize equally?
Aren't they going to be subject to the gift tax rule?
It's gonna be hard to prove to the IRS that they had a partnership and that everyone was contributing to play the lottery when the Mom says "she never gambles playing the lottery". However, they won't say who dreamt the numbers.
It doesn't sound like this was a lottery partnership. I see tax problems down the road.
Mom said she played $6.00, so does that mean everyone (8 people) contributed $0.75 to her dream?
She had a ticket for two drawings so it sounds like she bought 3 lines ($6.00) times two drawings ($12.00). I think she spent $12.00.
If 8 people had contributed just $1.00 each that would have been $8.00 not $12.00.
I don't believe anyone contributed money towards this jackpot but I admire her for sharing it with her entire family.
Will each person receive an equal share? The article doesn't mention it.
Imagine the gift tax she would have to pay if the IRS deems that she owes one? Millions in additional taxes!
Anyone have an idea if she'll owe gift taxes on this and how much?
Lottery personnel said in interview it was a one line ticket, multiplied. So, $3 for Wednesday and Saturday
Congratulations. Enjoy.
Decide how much you want to share. Get a financial advisor and attorney before you claim the winnings.
The mother bought the ticket. Another article I read said she is a minister.
This isn't the first time winnings were shared with family or friends. That's what lawyers and financial advisors are for.
"divine intervention"?
Yeah sure, riiight...
I hope they get sound financial advice and "enjoy" it to the utmost!
Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but they won't owe gift taxes, only income tax. In fact the IRS has a form specifically for the purpose of splitting gambling winnings that is used in these situations (form 5754). Below is some info I pulled from finance.zacks.com.
The Internal Revenue Service considers all lottery winnings to be taxable income, even if you do not receive an income document at the end of the year that reports the amount you’ve won. If you’ve split your prize with another person or group of people, you need to take steps to ensure any reportable amounts are allocated correctly between yourself and the other winners. In most cases, you need to handle these steps prior to cashing in on your prize.
State Lottery Regulations
Each state lottery commission creates its own rules concerning group or multiple lottery prize winners. The IRS sets mandatory withholding tax rules for prize amounts, but states decide the types of games and winning amounts that are applied to split claims. Before you cash in your winning ticket, download a winner’s handbook from the state lottery commission’s website to review your options.
Claims Department
The state lottery commission processes requests for multiple winner claims. Many states, such as California, Pennsylvania and Kansas require that split claims, be processed before the winning lottery prize is paid out. Other states, such as Oregon, require one claimant to receive the payout, then file a request with the lottery commission to divide the tax liability among the other winners. In either case the lottery commission gathers information about the winners and the amount of prize each person should receive before payments are arranged. The commission also uses claimant information to prepare the correct tax reporting information for each winner. Because each state lottery commission operates individually and may have varying rules, it is important to review the claim instructions for multi-winner claims prior to requesting a payout.
IRS Form 5754
When lottery prize splits are allowed by the state and a proper claim is submitted with the claims department, the lottery commission asks you to complete IRS Form 5754. This form must contain information about all the winners and the amount of prize each person received. This form is not turned into the IRS; the lottery commission uses it to prepare a W2-G form for each winner, listing the prize each person receives. W2-G forms are sent to winners by the end of January each year, and the IRS expects each person to report the amount of his prize as shown on the W2-G form.
Unreported Split
In general the IRS only requires you to report income that is yours. If lottery winnings you receive are split with other winners and you are the only person who receives a W2-G form, which shows the entire taxable portion of the lottery prize, the IRS expects you to report the whole prize on your return. If this happens and the winnings were really split between you and other winners, you have the option of reporting only your portion. If you do this, you also need to attach a statement to your return explaining that you only received a portion of the prize. On your statement, you need to list the amount you received and provide information about the other winners who received part of the winnings as well as the amounts they received. The IRS then checks the returns of the other people to see if they also claimed their portions. If the other winners do not report their prize, the IRS may require you to claim the whole amount, as shown on the W2-G form you receive.
I don't understand why you all are so so confuse. First and foremost if co workers can split a jackpot with no problem a family can split a jackpot too if they all are old enough to gamble . Number two IRS is not worried about tax implications IRS has taken there share of the money already so they are winners too. About the eight sharing that means IRS will actually make more in tax when all eight starts spending when was the last time you saw a black family of eight spending on one direction so this actually benefits the economy and IRS more like eight houses eight cars eight donkeys maybe I start playing 888 lol. Another thing about why they spent only $6 by eight people I think you need to go back to school and learn basic maths you see this family is smart not your typical black family there is a posibilty they could have put together a pool of $500 but decided to play only $6 per draw so this way they stay in the game longer I do the same thing I play my constant $3 and I play my quick pick $3 so I spend $6 too slowly because powerball and mega million is a long term strategy game not a one time play and win. I missed a $300,000 win on powerball on four numbers and pb with power play because I was waiting for $80,000,000 jackpot to grow and I regret this everyday. So just because they spent $6 doesn't mean that is all they have on there lottery budget and beside give them credit when was the last time you say a black family share anything peacefully if you want my opinion I think its because they have one son if I where him I get away from all those crazy females lol . I do have five sisters and am the only son and I could not wait to get the hell out don't you see his body language lol
My above comment is in respond to golfer1960 . At least they did better than the other crazy new jersey winner Pedro quezada who couldn't give his ten year girlfriend inez sanchez a KitKat bar break. He was so dumb he sent all his money to the Dominican republic go figure :)
I wonder what other trouble he is up to now apart from getting fat from donuts.