COLUMBIA, S.C. — Here's how a big money winner could end up being a bit of a money loser for South Carolina.
If in a few weeks no one claims a lottery ticket worth $1.5 billion sold in the Upstate, Palmetto State lawmakers may have less money to spend in the coming fiscal year.
The state expects to collect $61 million in income taxes as its share of the Mega Millions jackpot if the winner opts to take the money as a lump sum.
The winner still has three months to turn over the ticket to state lottery officials and become instantly mega rich. But three months have gone by with no word from whoever bought the winning ticket at a convenience store in Simpsonville.
"We're starting to get nervous about whether that $61 million is realistic," Frank Rainwater, director of the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, told legislators during a briefing on state revenue estimates Tuesday.
If no one surfaces before the state's economic advisers meet in the middle of next month, they will consider reducing projected surpluses so legislators don't count on an iffy $61 million when they craft their budget proposals for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Currently, the $61 million is part of a half-billion dollars in projected surpluses meant for one-time expenses.
That $61 million could cover agencies' requests for new voting machines or new school textbooks or prison cell door upgrades.
South Carolina's grace period for collecting lottery wins is 180 days following the drawing. Because the drawing in this case occurred on October 23, 2018, that would make the deadline for claiming the unprecedented prize April 21, 2019.
If the winner doesn't surface before the 180-day deadline, the state will still collect a portion — though much less — as the entire pot will be divided among all states participating in the Mega Millions contest, based on each state's percentage of total sales, Rainwater said.
That would put about $11 million into South Carolina's unclaimed prizes fund, which legislators can spend as lottery profits, limited to college scholarships and other education expenses.
A spokeswoman for the S.C. Education Lottery did not return a voice message Tuesday.
The identity of the winner of the nation's second-largest lottery jackpot might never be known, even if he or she does contact lottery officials before the deadline. South Carolina is among a handful of states that allows lottery winners to remain anonymous.
If it has been Simpsonville, KY not SC I would have claimed it in 2019.
Give it a break, SCL...still almost three months to go.
A strange feeling does come that this won't be claimed.
I know it would never ever happen in my wildest dreams, but wouldn't it be something if they just put it in the MM jackpot all @ once? Could you just imagine the frenzy then? LOL
If this were our $1.5+ Billion jackpot, we'd be taking our time to collect, too.
April 21st deadline hunh ? Let's seeeeeeeee....That is Easter Sunday...and roughly 88 days away. Wonder if they are strict and say by close of business on Friday(19th) or the option for Monday(a day late)......Not my horse,not my stall to clean out.
Guess you legislators better just consider that one(if the winner comes forward at all ) for a late hurricane fund.... But at least you're slurping up the interest on all that cash for another possible 12+ weeks. I am sure you can have an alternative back-up budget plan if the winner comes forward. I have never heard of a government that doesn't know how to spend $$ if they have a sudden influx of it. Good grief, what would you do if this current PB got up that high by March, another SC resident won and didn't claim it until mid July ?
Why play?
They are worried about their $61 million lol
While the winners hundreds of millions at stake
l have no idea why they are nervous? The rules at the back of every MM & PB ticket out here States “ Winner has up to a year to claim.” If the winner is in no hurry, what’s their problem? Balance your books without factoring in what you assume should be.
I bet if they knew the phone # of the winner, they would be harassing the individual to please come forward “ we need that cash for the schools & new prison doors to keep those criminals off the streets & away from YOU.”
I find it impolite for the winner not to contact the Lottery Officials. At least have a financial adviser do the same. Maybe even a lawyer or attorney.
Players who purchased tickets at the store are double-checking their tickets.
The largest amount never claimed was $70.2 million in a Power Ball ticket 2002. I think it was in Indiana. This record amount will change that if not claimed.
Here is another guess. The winner is a teenager 18 or 19 years old. They are following the advice found here on LP and getting a team together. An attorney, lawyer, Certified Financial Planner, and a Certified Public Accountant CPA.
We may never know.
"Give it a break, SCL"
This has nothing to do with the lottery. This just the logical result of somebody a bit smarter than Clark Griswold waiting until they actually get their bonus before making commitments about how to spend it. The deadline for the winner is still 3 months away, but the finance people have a deadline that's only 3 weeks away and they're just being cautious enough to not count unhatched chickens.
” You find it impolite to not contact the lottery- why music?” If the winner want to take their sweet time, then why not? It’s not as though they overstayed the checkout time in a hotel, they entitled to do what they deem necessary. Do you recall back in Aug 2012, the California Lottery swooped down on a convenient store in Fremont less than 45 days after a MM winner had not showed up to claim their millions. They, the lottery, took it upon themselves to put the footage of the winner on tv with the caption “ please show up and collect your millions.” They got an earful from the public, saying that their actions endangered the winner. They have since stopped that practice. So S.C. can just wait- imho.
Contacting the lottery is like an "unwritten" basketball rule; no harm, no foul. Or like the "unwritten" no call football rule when your team is winning. Does the lotteries need to find the winner outweigh the winner's privacy?
Exactly!
If SC wanted a courtesy call three months in, they should have written the law to address that. There's nothing impolite about doing no more than the law requires you to do in this situation.
oate, Do we really need more laws to tell us what or what not to do? Whatever happened to Common Sense? A simple phone call by an adviser would settle everyone down. That would be the kind thing to do.
noise-gate, I heard that the couple who won in Fremont, CA lost it all within five years.
This S.C. winner's adviser could contact the lottery officials.
Personally, I believe the ticket has been lost. That is my guess.
Common Sense? I hope you're seriously joking. Informing the lottery office that you won if anything would be the opposite of common sense. Plus that's not how things work. The only way to properly inform them that you won is to take your ticket and get it verified IN the office. Anyone could just call in and say "hey guys don't worry I have the ticket tucked away safely and I'm waiting 2 more months to claim it". So what you are saying is that it would be common sense to go down there and have the ticket verified.....leave.......then come back later when you're ready to claim. No boo boo that's again the opposite of common sense. In fact it would be plan foolish to do so. Especially if you're wanting to claim it anonymously which is your right and THE BEST THING to do for the winner(s).
More importantly who cares if they're getting antsy. It's not the winners job nor responsibility to claim when the lottery office wants you too. As long as you claim but the deadline printed on the back you shouldn't have to feel guilty about anything. Lastly we don't need anymore laws but that's the whole point. The law says 180 days to 1 year so if the lottery office gets mad that you came in on the last day 2 hrs before closing then oh well.
The ticket is not lost. It was the ticket for the biggest lottery ever (or so it was advertised). I would think that any wise adviser would want everything to be perfect before you deal with this kind of wealth. I mean you might be going from living pay check to pay check to now worrying about a cool billion. None of us knows the burdens, planning, and stress that is involved from going into this kind of wealth overnight. I'm really hoping this is the last we hear about this other than it's been claimed by an anonymous person(s) along with the few details that the lottery office is required to put out. We already know where the ticket was bought so if the winner was smart the rest would just be some random fabricated story with no leads. For instance I remember reading that one anonymous winner quit his factory job......that's too much information (if legit) When I win my story will be something like ......I plan to retire from my career as a professional ball player and spend the next 10 years traveling the world to live the dream of my parents before they died leaving me as their sole child. Meanwhile all my 6 brother's and sister's are having a family reunion at the parent's house.
Sounds like someone (not the winner) is trying to count eggs before they hatch.
Trying to get their greedy hands on some tax money.
The winner will claim when he/she is ready.
CD, I had started a thread in the lottery discussion forum asking
Who gets the accruing interest on unclaimed lottery money?
You wrote "Guess you legislators better just consider that one(if the winner comes forward at all ) for a late hurricane fund.... But at least you're slurping up the interest on all that cash for another possible 12+ weeks."
Only one person replied.
South Carolina shouldn't be counting that tax money yet anyhow. If the winner is from out of state, their income tax payment will go to their home state.
TMM... I wasn't 100% certain on where these funds that get collected, are held for the PB and/or MM. I am just leaning towards in the state where the winning ticket was sold at this point in time. But I could be completely wrong.
When I was researching the Lotto America rules, I came upon this document that describes funds to be held/transfered etc....
https://www.nmlottery.com/uploads/FileLinks/82400d81a0ce468daab29ebe6db3ec27/Lotto_America_Group_Rules_November_7_2017_to_be_effective_with_drawing_on_November_15_2017.pdf
Take a look at LA Rule#19. Then go just above it to Rule 14.1 - 14.3.... Could the set-up for L.A. collection rules mirror PB or MM ?..Possibly
pmpm, Here in California there is an 18 digit number on the front of the ticket that the winner or his/her adviser could use to identify themselves as the winner/s. The adviser could also use other identifying information that only the winner/s and the Lottery knows. Such as the approximate time of purchase, how crowded the store was, how many clerks were there, what else did you buy at the store, etc.
The ticket could have been blown out of the winner/s car window.
Nope this is false my friend.
The state that has the winner gets the income tax BUT if your home state income tax rate is MORE than South Caroina's then you would owe the remainder to your state. For instance lets say that SC income tax is 5% (not looking up these numbers) and you live in Maryland that has a 8% income tax. You would pay SC there 5% then owe Maryland 3% because you would get a 5% tax credit towards your home state. If you live in Virginia with a 4% then you would still pay SC there 5% but owe nothing to VA.
Again the only legal way of verifying a ticket is by going directly to the lottery office and running the ticket through a machine that verifies it. Of course there's serial numbers/ pictures of people buying tickets at certain times etc etc but the only way to legal say I'm the winner is to place said ticket in said machine and have the machine verify it. What you said about Cali is true for every state but what im telling you is that there's only one way that your ticket will be verified. But it looks like no matter what we say you will always stick to your guns and say that the winner isn't being "nice" because they're waiting too long in claiming the ticket.
All of this will be mute if the ticket is lost.
I am not saying that the winner/s are waiting too long to claim. I am saying they should try the phone route. The winner/s can wait until the last day which I think is a Friday.
Good Luck to all LP Members tonight. Power Ball time!!
This may be an extremely dumb question but what would happen if the ticket owner(s) pass away unexpectedly before claiming ticket??? Hypothetically if he/she/they are in process with getting financial stuff in order with lawyers and financial advisors wouldn't the courts have to wade into the weeds on this?
And if that was a naive question then thwack me on the head.
If a winner dies then the funds get transferred to whoever the winner lists in their will. If there's no will, WWIII will be a massive understatement for the fighting and lawsuits that will result from all the relatives trying to get their slice
A great question. A lot of people do not have wills or trusts. So the state law of intestate (no will) succession will apply. Most states have something like the children get some share, then spouse....or even parents, and/or siblings. It varies per state. I glanced at SC law and it says children get 1/2, spouse 1/2 but this can vary if there are no children, spouse, etc. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/intestate-succession-south-carolina.html
If the will or estate plan was in process and the winner died, I assume a probate Judge would have to allow testimony from the estate attorney.
Wrong.