Didn't check his lottery ticket for two weeks
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A delivery driver from Northern California rang in the New Year by walking into the California Lottery headquarters in Sacramento with a ticket worth $324 million.
The California Lottery identified the winner as Steve Tran, who has chosen to take his winnings in one lump sum and will receive $173.8 million before federal taxes.
Tran told lottery officials that after learning he had the winning ticket, he made a call to his boss: "I'm really sorry boss. I hit the jackpot. I don't think I'm going to come in today, tomorrow, or ever."
California Lottery spokesman Russ Lopez said Tran came in to the Sacramento office at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, ending a two-week mystery over the identity of the newly minted multi-millionaire.
The winning numbers were drawn on Dec. 17, and when it was announced one of the winning tickets was purchased at a gift store on Tully Road, San Jose was buzzing about who was the lucky owner.
Tran did not want to talk with reporters but did share some of his story with Lottery officials, Lopez said.
On the day after the winning numbers were drawn, Tran said he watched the story in the news, not knowing he was the lucky winner.
"Everybody was anxious, looking for the person," Tran told the California Lottery. "Must be a lucky man."
Tran said he did not realize he was in possession of the winning ticket until Monday. Tran said he has a pile of lottery tickets purchased from other towns sitting on his drawer, and out of nowhere he realized he may have bought a ticket in San Jose.
"I woke up in the middle of the night," Tran told the Lottery officials. "I remembered, I think I went to San Jose."
When Tran checked his tickets, he made the $324 millions discovery. He was a multi-millionaire.
Tran says he and his family visit San Jose because there is a large Vietnamese community there, plus they can eat and shop. Tran said he bought five quick pick tickets at Jenny's Gift & Kids Wear, a store tucked away in a Tully Road strip mall.
Nguyen said he remembers Tran but added he did not stop by his shop that often.
Nguyen said he feels "proud for him, happy for him."
Being the source of the winner's good fortune, he felt like he made a contribution to the community.
"That must have been the reason I'm here," Nguyen said.
Nguyen's lottery sales have jumped by about 30 percent since he sold the winning Mega Millions ticket. Friday morning, he went through a 20-minute stretch of selling tickets, telling each customer "I wish you the best."
Tran is one of two winners in the $648 million drawing — the second-largest jackpot in U.S. history. The other newly minted multimillionaire, Ira Curry of Georgia, claimed her winnings and immediately dropped out of sight. She is taking her bonanza as a lump sum — $123 million after taxes.
Congratulation Mr. Tran & family
Congrats on the big win!
Congratulations and Happy New Year to Steve Tran and family!
Quick pick JP winner!
Congrats to you Mr. Tran. All the best to you, your family and loved ones. What a way to start 2014!!! Good for you!!
For some reason, i'm so glad it was a quick pick winner, not sure why but was hoping it was. Way to go man, when its your time, its simply your time!!!!
Congratulations, Steve, on your huge Mega Millions Jackpot win!
Congratulations! And as I said before, sometimes people just get busy and don't get to check their tickets right away. It does not mean they want to win any less than anyone of us.
Best quote ever :"I'm really sorry boss. I hit the jackpot. I don't think I'm going to come in today, tomorrow, or ever."
Congrats!! To you and your family.
Lucky him. Not only did he win the money, he has a common enough name in the Vietnamese community that he is essentially anonymous.
Also, a great decision by Mr. Tran to avoid the cameras.
CONGRATS!
Tran said he bought five quick pick tickets at Jenny's Gift & Kids Wear, a store tucked away in a Tully Road strip mall.
It was 1 ticket, 5 lines: (play C was the winner)
I always get thrown for a loop when people refer to lines/plays/picks as tickets. I know it is common, but it just seems weird to me. Like when the frenzy hits and reporters go out to stores, and they say, "give me five tickets!" and the clerk hands then 1 ticket with 5 lines.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wanted it to be me. I'm not happy for him.
Lol you so crazy
5 lines? Someone is going to be seeing helicopters.
Excellent. The suspense is over. Big congrats to the new minted winner. May he receive all the blessings God has to offer. I really hope Ira and this guy enjoy their new life style. Stories like this give me hope that ordinary people can actually win the jackpot. It's a long shot, indeed, but hey, you never know. ;)
Wait how come he gets 173 million and the lady in Ga only 120million? I don't get it. Is it cause of taxes?
Megamillions had another jackpot winner already and some players thought with a 5/75 +1/15 matrix the jackpot would roll at least three months before someone won again.
The first figure is before taxes, the other after taxes.
People are always saying somethings half way and expecting other to know what they left out. Saying one ticket with five lines or five tickets with five lines each might be a little clearer.
that proves once again, that Megamillions is just too easy to win
It's only easy for the winners to win, for the losers it's it's getting easier to lose.
Yes, and possibly no 2nd prize winners!
There was one $5 million winner from Pennsylvania.
Even USAMega couldn't believe there was already a winner:
1:03 am – Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Friday, January 03, 2014 Mega Millions drawing...
It sure confused me when I saw $15 Million for the amount after seeing that. I don't know if I ever said it, but I had a feeling the next jackpot win wouldn't be nearly as big.
Congratulation Mr, Steve Tran Spend wisely
Both winners have to pay federal taxes, so Mr. Tran will not net 173 million dollars. But he will take home more money than the Georgia winner because California does not tax lottery winnings. Imagine that! But you will surely get taxed to the hilt on every other type of income. I will buy a ticket in California but I won't seek to live in California.
Congrats to the winner Mr Tran and his family! Best of luck to him.
I see you need another box
Congrats Mr Tran
Just can't fathom lump sum payouts. Surmise that taking the annuity with its bigger long term payout results in more taxes, over the cumulative payoff period. Know the smart money advises to take the lump sum and pay the taxes all at once. It just too much to manage such a huge prize amount at one time. But that's just me. Know Yours Truly, is in the minority on this issue of lump sum vs the annuity option. Just think having the payments spread over a long period is a little easier to work.
Tran told lottery officials that after learning he had the winning ticket, he made a call to his boss: "I'm really sorry boss. I hit the jackpot. I don't think I'm going to come in today, tomorrow, or ever."
At that point I would have known for sure if I planned to ever return to my job.
(British accent): I beg your pardon but crying is my way of coping with a life long sentence of losing, thank you Mr. Hearsetrax.
May I get you a spot of tea?
Chances are the winners that take cash have watch some those TV investment program seen or heard of people who earn 20% a year on their investments and figure they could do better than states will with a annuity only play 5% a year over the next thirty years. If not, a financial adviser have told them he can to a lot better for only a small fee.
Off the top, I can think of two very logical reason why currently taking the cash is better decision in California. They have no state tax on lottery winnings, but that could change. Currently it's 12.3% of income over $691,000 that a lottery winner must pay if the legislators created tax on lottery winnings. Any financial planner understands in the next 30 years the current interest rate can only go up and not advise locking into the tiny rate the annuity is now offering.
Solid logical reasons can be made for taking the payments too, but I can't think of any.
Congrats to the lucky winner!
Of the two tickets that hit the jp, one ticket was a QP and one was self selected numbers. Steve Tran and Ira Curry were the lucky winners. Interesting.
That quote is great. I would love to hear him say it.
you da man good luvk may god be with you
California does not tax Lottery winnings. You only pay Federal Tax.
I didn't want to win this stupid lottery anyway hearsetrax. I'm happy doing what I do!!!
Stupid Lottery.
That was my favorite line in the article. Finally! I always get a kick out of the people who win millions and say "Oh, I'll still work at Walmart. This money won't change me." Sure!
Of course it is important to continue to do something productive and, if I owned a business, I might continue to be active in it. However, I can think of a lot better things to do than work for someone else in a store or a factory. Congrats to the winner.
Didn't check his tickets for 2 weeks, this seems to be common.
NICE WIN $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
you and me both! also gives me a reason to turn people down who beg for $$$
Error
those who take annuity open themselves up to onerous tax changes, and even though the IRS does make mistakes, we all know IT is very unforgiving to regular, non government affiliated citizens.
No, I will take lump sum and then analyze all available options to legally minimize my future tax bill.
Retroactive Tax?!? That's crazy.
Classic line, love it.
This is big news to me about the "retro-active tax" on NJ lottery winners! The things we lean on Lottery Post is amazing.
Question the percent of rich people that play the lottery. Willing to bet that it's a small percentage. Then again, Yours Truly, may be wrong.
Reading the comments about lump-sum vs annuity payments,seems most regular folks are very savy about managing their money. Each month tally up my lottery spending,winnings, and running at a loss. Too ashamed to state how much was lost on lottery gambling. Just chalk it up as an entertainment expense. Don't forget to keep your lossing tickets.Believe you can deduct the expense on your Federal income tax, if you win a big jackpot that affects your income.
It is always sad to read about lottery winers who spend their winning in a short period of time and revert back to a life of mediocrity or worse yet to poverty.
Maybe I'll cut back on the lottery for awhile and get a new computer to replace my eight year old Compaq Presario which is running very slow. Spent too much time and effort on up -dating web browsers and Microsoft not supporting my dated version operating system,after April 2014.
2014 promises to bring more big lottery winners in the coming year. Good Luck to all who participate in this great voluntary tax program.
Beggars are so annoying. I had a guy ask for some chamomile tea and i was like "Hell No".
Ya, I remember that MEAN, MEAN NJ state tax law, snuck in a couple of years ago, when the state had been way over spending and the Reps got to thinking: 'Who can we get big money from quickly?' !
Cash is also best when some of our country's states are going bankrupt. Certainly, if one peruses past federal income tax rate brackets, they'll see that for a while there was a 75% tax bracket! I don't EVER want that to return!!!
I'm pretty sure that NJ wasn't overspending any more then than they did the year before or the year after.
The law was changed shortly after a group of insurance workers won something over $100 million (cash value), which back then was an unusually large jackpot. The timing makes me think it was the chance to grab their own share of that particular jackpot that gave them the idea, or the push to follow through on an idea they'd already had for a while.
I live only a few miles from Jenny's Gift and Kids Wear store. I decided to go there and congratulate Mr. Thuy Nguyen for selling that $324 million Mega Millions lottery ticket and purchase a few PowerBall tickets at the same time. When I arrived at Jenny's Gift store there was a long line of people waiting. When it was my turn to purchase my tickets, I congratulated Thuy and he shook my hand. Thuy was so excited about selling that $324 million lottery ticket and receiving a bonus of $1 million from the state lottery commission, he looked like he was hyperventilating,and this was just two days after that big lottery draw. I think Thuy should have closed his gift shop for a few weeks and got himself hypered down. Thuy said it was Buddha that got him that $1 million bonus. I don't believe it. It was just pure luck, that's all!
You americans are so naive :)
This is a typical vietnamis scam.
Tran are not a real winner.
Look. Fairytales:
a) he don`t control the numbers on Tuesday or day next - rubbish
b) "I go to vacation" and thats the reason why I he control numbers in next Monday - rubbish
c) he don`t remember taht he was in San Jose - rubbish
of course Tran is not a real winner. Check cameras, videos, and you see:)
control "vacation" , credit carts ( driver you say...) etc etc.
Yes ,I think some vietnamis is a winner. Maybe he is a illegal immigrant?
"You americans are so naive :)"
Be nice, leila, or we'll tell Putin that it's ok to send the tanks back in.
Pass the motrin someone.
$5 MEGA MILLIONS QUICK PICK TICKET.
Can happen and is not against the law. When you think of the term retroactive, you think past years rates being changed. In reality, the law was passed July 1, 2009 for the 2009 fiscal year. Technically, no different from last year, when Congress passed the 39.6% upper bracket tax, 5% raising in the capital gains, and the ending of payroll tax cut at 2:00 a.m. on January 1st. Would you complain then (assuming you were neutral on the raises) that they retroactively did that?
You have to go with the assumption all the time that you might owe more than withheld at the end of the year. You don't pay taxes until Jan 1st at the earliest of next year anyways
My comment was based on the post immediately before mine which made mention about retroactive tax. When I read the term "retroactive," I assumed he meant lottery winners were taxed for lottery winnings from prior years. I didn't realize it only affected lottery winners for the 6 month period in 2009.
Congratulations what a lucky man. The funny thing is that if he don't remembered that he had bought a ticket in San Jose the mysterious winner, which is himself, will never show up. Furthermore he even complimented the winner a lucky man not knowing that the winner was him.