Winner chose to remain anonymous
Lucky retailer earned $100,000 bonus
The second-largest Mega Millions jackpot prize in Maryland history was quietly claimed late last week.
The lucky Marylander bought one of the two winning tickets in the March 18 drawing for the $414 million Mega Millions jackpot. A Florida couple last week claimed the second ticket, which was sold in their state. (See Florida couple, nearly penniless, claim half of $414M lottery jackpot, Lottery Post, May 1, 2014.)
The jackpot gave the Maryland and Florida ticket holders, before taxes, $115.5 million each through the cash option selected by the winners. After taxes, the Maryland winner receives $76.4 million.
The winner chose to remain anonymous, which is an option for jackpot winners in the state of Maryland.
"You have to play to win," the mystery winner told Maryland Lottery officials, borrowing the slogan used by the Lottery several years ago. "You have to play your lucky numbers."
"We are pleased that Maryland, once again, was home to a Mega Millions jackpot winner," said Stephen Martino, director of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency. "Everyone benefits when a winning jackpot ticket is sold in Maryland. This jackpot win gave the state of Maryland some welcome and unanticipated tax revenue."
That "unanticipated tax revenue" amounts to more than $10.1 million, thanks to the cash option.
The Maryland winner's lucky ticket came from Lady's Liquors located at 6474 Crain Highway in La Plata. For selling the winning ticket, the retailer receives a $100,000 agent bonus.
This marks the first Mega Millions jackpot win in Maryland this year, following two jackpot wins in 2013 when an Anne Arundel County man claimed the $189 million prize in October and a Mt. Airy couple won $26 million in February. Maryland saw its largest jackpot win in history in March 2012 when three winners claimed a $218.6 million prize.
Nationwide, the largest Mega Millions jackpot to date was $656 million won on March 30, 2012, by winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. The multi-state game is played in 45 states and jurisdictions.
Congrats anonymous winner!!
That's the way it should be... compare and contrast the two vastly different stories for this $414 million jackpot.
to the mystery winner/s
Hopefully the winner has a competent accountant who has advised them to put away $17 million for the additional Federal taxes that will be due in 2015. I hope they have a decent plan to enjoy their fortune and not squander the majority away. First thing they need to do is get out of Maryland and find a tax friendly state. I know that's what I would do if I were them.
Not only was the winner fortunate to win a major jackpot but to do so in a state that offers anonymity is a major bonus! Congratulations to lucky winner!
Congratulations to the winner. May you enjoy your new found riches!!
On contrary...that's what we call game of luck instead of game of chance. That's what makes people believe in the lottery.
Congrats to the lucky winner! Anonymous to boot!
I understand the arguments for public disclosure; if the information is made public, then there's no doubt that the prize WAS awarded. I do think they should give the prize winner a decent grace period before announcing, something like 30-90 days AFTER claiming the prize, give them a chance to take precautions. I think many people might not be able to afford to change phone numbers or pick up and move away for a while...at least not before cashing the check.
Congratulations to the winners.
Live long & enjoy your new found wealth.
Congratulations to the winner
wtg ...enjoy yourself !!!
Congrats to the anonymous winner.
To mikeintexas:
I understand the arguments for public disclosure; if the information is made public, then there's no doubt that the prize WAS awarded.
The states that allow winners to remain anonymous don't seem to be having any problems with doubt that the prize was awarded.
Yeah, but there are some in here that are more..."conspiracy-minded". I personally don't have a problem with it. I believe there's only six states that allow for anonymous claiming, so maybe it's the states that DON'T allow anonymous claiming that have a problem with it.
Should lottery winners remain anonymous?
"Lotteries object, arguing that publicizing the winners' names drives sales and that having their names released ensures that people know there isn't something fishy afoot, like a game rigged so a lottery insider wins. When players see that an actual person won, "it has a much greater impact than when they might read that the lottery paid a big prize to an anonymous player," said Andi Brancato, director of public relations for the Michigan state lottery."
Congrats to the lucky winner. Enjoy.
The only people that scream conspiracy theory have something to hide, or are deflecting the truth. However, in this instance, I don't have an issue with anonymous lottery claims. If I won a large lottery jackpot I would want to stay anonymous too.
"The only people that scream conspiracy theory have something to hide, or are deflecting the truth."
I don't understand what you mean by that. There are documented cases of conspiracies throughout history. There have been, IMHO, some outlandish conspiracy theories offered up in here and some other claims that really should be investigated. I think the conspirators would fit that sentence, not those who scream about conspiracies.
I see and hear all these great stories about clerk mistake makes someone a millionaire or traffic jam made someone stop to buy lottery tickets and win millions! Well, sometimes I run into these scenarios and it turns out to be a waste of money. For example, the other day I was at a gas station the store clerk asked if I wanted to buy a 5 dollar mega millions ticket (I already bought mines the previous day) that she printed by mistake a few minutes ago. The first thing that came to my mind was YES!! I'm going to be the lucky one..! just this morning i threw that ticket in the trash and wasted $5 bucks because of someone's mistakes. LOL!
Congrats, anonymous is the way to go.
It's stupid how you can't claim anonymously in Canada!!!
Last time I won $6500 they posted my picture on their website for months :'(
Kudos to the winner(s) !!! Stay anonymous, smart move. If Texas offered it, would claim it the same way.we don't, oh well...just have to take the money n run.
Good to read that the winners wished to remain an anonymous!
Look on the bright side. Canada does not tax lottery winnings.
Here in the US the lottery winner must pay a federal income tax rate of 39.9 percent and on top of that most states will want the winner to pay state income tax as well.
"The only people that scream conspiracy theory have something to hide..."
You seem pretty trusting of government agencies.
I trust them about as far as I can p*ss.
And that ain't as far as it used to be.
Me too, Ridge. I didn't understand the reply to me. The conspiracy that many subscribe to - but I don't - is that certain states win more often than others because MM or PB wants it that way. The "conspiracy" that needs to be investigated is why some state use computer generated numbers - which I never realized until you mentioned it. I'm sure you know about it, but for anyone else, this is a great section in here: State Lottery Report Card
I've got a friend who has a favorite conspiracy flavor of the week. He fixated on the JFK assassination for a long time and told me he asked so many questions, the FBI came to visit him*. O....Kay. The chemtrail thing was his obsession the last time I visited with him.
*Disclosure: his stepson once hit him in the head with a baseball bat and he smokes copious amounts of pot. I'm thinkin' that while neither was/is a good thing, the combination is really bad.
Too bad I am not a closer subway ride to MD from DC. I figured out it would add about 90 plus minutes if I tried it after work. I really liked the creative way MD still "showed" the 3 winners from the super big MM drawing (the Mirlande drawing...lol).
I hope some of the home state Mega Millions luck rubs off on me someday. The great thing about claiming the prize anonymously, the winner doesn't have to worry about an army of thieves, deadbeats and scammers leading a path to the winner's door. The number rule to asset protection is making sure people don't know you have assets that need protecting in the first place. Some people I'm sure fill that all jackpot winners should be public since the lotteries are state run and not private. I still prefer to remain anonymous.
If someone asks for money just say they have to work for it and most of them will probably say never mind. I know if i point to my wood pile they would runaway.
The three Amigos! I think most other states do not have a stipulation in which a picture has to be taken. The main requirements are name, town and state. revealing your age is not mandatory either but yet most of the winners love to divulge too much information.
Im very happy to be on the site and I never had a great result in lottery, hopefully ill be blessed wi a lucky daily 4 number im I. A finial need about to loose my resident so please help me out. I'm from Indiana tonight daily 4 was 0189 what do u feel the number that follows