Final jackpot tally reaches $533 million
RIVERDALE, N.J. — As speculation swirled around the identity of the world's newest multi-millionaire, the owner of the mini-mart where Friday's winning Mega Millions ticket was sold said he reviewed surveillance footage to see if he could pinpoint the lucky customer.
New Jersey Lottery officials have not identified the winner of what they now say is a $533 million — revised upward from $521 million — jackpot yet, a spokeswoman said.
But based on time and date information workers that a Lukoil gas station and convenience store received from state lottery officials, owner Ameer Krass said Monday that the winner is a regular customer. He would not say whether the buyer purchased the ticket individually or for a group.
On Sunday, a cashier who said she had not received permission speak to reporters mentioned that employees were able to determine that the ticket buyer was male.
Tom Webber, supervisor of investigations for NJ Lottery, said he has not taken possession of the surveillance footage but confirmed that looking through security-camera video is something the commission does.
Lottery tickets are date and time stamped, state lottery spokeswoman MaryAnn Rivell said. But she cautioned against speculating on the person who will claim the prize.
"Until the ticket is actually validated, they don't have a claim," she said.
Riverdale itself, about 25 miles northwest of New York City, has fewer than 5,000 residents but is on Interstate 287, which funnels some commuters through it.
"I know them, and they are one of our regulars, which is great," Krass said. "That's what we were hoping for. Although we have hundreds, maybe thousands of customers, we know the majority of them by face, by name."
This has always been a lucky station," he said. "We may be a highway station but we have that in-town feel."
Krass said he has not tried to contact the winner since the drawing and said that people around him or her should give them, "the space they deserve."
New Jersey law requires a winner's name and town to be made public, according to the lottery. But the winner can be a person or organization, which has led to speculation that a winner can set up a trust to claim a prize.
Even with the bump in prize money, the winner still will take home the 10th largest lottery jackpot ever, the fourth largest Mega Millions drawing and the largest winning pot in New Jersey. The person who claims the prize can choose to take all $533 million in 30 annual installments; $324 million, up from $317.2 million, as a lump sum.
Krass received $30,000 for selling the winning ticket and was presented with a ceremonial check Monday.
Smart move on the lottery winner and smart move on the owner of that gas station.
This is what the Mass. woman should have done. Then again you can't fix stupid, so in this case good job for both.
As far as the lottery commission, it's the right of the lottery winner to do what they have to do. Maybe the lottery winner spoke to a lawyer and the lawyer is into it.
The winner or winners could know about Lottery Post or at least Todd may know them. LOL.
California retailers get $1,000,000.00 for selling a Power Ball or Mega Millions ticket. Maybe also a Super Lotto Plus ticket. Jackpot winners.
This winning ticket beat out the larger States like California, New York, Texas, Florida. Surprising!!
Let us all begin again on the long lottery road to Lottery History. WIN!!
We will soon see if the winner or winners are keeping their head or heads down. Getting professional advice from Trust & Estate Attorneys, CPAs, Insurance agents, and maybe even a public relations agency.
Slow down and take your time. You now have all the time you ever wanted.
Where to invest about $200,000,000.00?
The Stock Market is having a rough time right now but isn't this the time to buy stocks. "When others are fearful buy". Warren Buffet. "When others are greedy stop buying". Stay bullish on America.
Real Estate could be another investment vehicle.
Remember cdars/ics.com Do not get greedy.
One example is Brad Duke. He is a successful small business person and lottery winner. He knew himself and hired a team of professional investors, a public relations expert, and many others who are smarter than Brad.
There is a saying " The road to hell is paved with good intentions" l fear Ameer is stepping on it.This looking at footage to identify the winner is all wrong. The winner has 365 days to come forward and claim their prize.If Ameer is one who is known as " loose lips" he could expose the winner & put him or her at risk.lf you reading this Ameer, just remember you going to get your prize- l would suggest that you just back way off, for your own good.
The owner of the mini-mart where Friday's winning Mega Millions ticket was sold said, "he reviewed surveillance footage to see if he could pinpoint the lucky customer".
A very good reason not to buy tickets in stores. I only play by subscription, so there won't be any video footage of me buying tickets in a store.
There are other benefits too:
I can't loose my tickets!
The tickets are automatically checked!
More revenue for the state, as commission to the retailer is not required!
It's a win win, for the player and the state!
I agree, if a business can't respect their customer's privacy, they will, and should, loose business.
We don't hear much about Edward Snowden anymore, but his warning has never been more true.
Remember a couple of years ago the California lottery posted the video of the winning buyer? That was so wrong.
Music* and Noise-Gate, refresh my (our) memory(ies), wasn't that ticket a Mega Millions? Also was it near expiration? Or were they just in the mood to out this Hispanic woman?
There are one of two things that are possibly happening.
The winner is unaware they have won and therefore they have not come forward. (Very unlikely, but possible)
The winner does know they've won, and is taking the actions any astute player who has won millions of dollars would take. Hopefully this is case.
As for the store owner viewing the videotape and claiming he knows who the winner is, that's a definite maybe. It's impossible for him to be absolutely certain the person he suspects to be the winner is in fact the real winner. He wont know if his suspicions are correct or not until the actual winner comes forward.
Surveillance videos! Love them or hate them, they're here to stay. Your daily life is no where near as private as you might like it to be. Have you ever wondered how many times per day your picture is taken? It's a lot more than you think. Not to mention many people are happy to voluntarily provide lots of personal information about themselves to Facebook. And lots of application developers are more than happy to buy that same data from Facebook. The next time you see a login screen that allows you to "Login in via Facebook" you'll know your data has been sold to at least one app developer. Facebook sold them your FB login ID and password along with all sorts of other personal info you volunteered. G5
Yeah but then its a subscription which means if the first day your powerball number is picked along with 2 other white balls or just one white ball there's a very good chance that all your balls wont be picked during the next few draws. or maybe each draw 1-2 numbers are chosen.
BD- It was a Philipino named Bladimir Agnite, who won a $52 mil MM Jackpot in 2012. The guy had checked his ticket a few times, however in less than 45 days, the lottery Commission sent their enforcers to take charge of the survelliance footage & put the guy’s face on TV, all because “ he had not come forward “... after 45 days? The lottery got H* for that & dropped that practice immediately. I sensed the same crap here.
Even if the video footage shows a person that purchased the winning ticket,they could have been getting the ticket for a friend, neighbor or relative out of convenience.
I truly wish the person(s) that won much happiness and a smooth transaction when making the big claim.
Thank you noise-gate. Imagine if he ended up like Shaeffer in Florida thanks to the lottery doing something so foolish. Glad they stopped it.
Do you mean Shakespeare in Florida?
There is also another case in Southern California. The daughter was photographed buying a bottle of water and one ticket for her mother. When the Mother saw her daughter on the screen she thought that her daughter had robbed a bank.
Yes, music* Shakespeare. All I could think about him being buried under the concrete and Dee Dee, a wonderful person, driving over his grave. Too bad eye for an eye justice can't happen in this country...
Noise-Gate, you have made a good point. And,, if he exposed the winner this may be a crime much less a threat to the winner.
You're absolutely right
Wander, you made some great points. Re: Facebook, you give your life away there. I got off that years ago.
I've been a bit confused reading through everyone's comments. I mean what are we talking about here. I see people talking about security cameras but the original posting only said that the NJ lottery commission hasn't asked for the footage which I doubt they will unless no one calls or makes an attempt to claim this prize as the window reaches it's end. Although going by what the store owner said the "regular" is more than likely to be someone who plays often which means they check to see if they are winning and not just playing "when the prize gets larger"
I would really like to move past this post though because I'm the type of lotto player that doesn't really care about who wins. Not in a mean way like"screw that person" but more like a "it wasn't something I was apart of so the rest doesn't matter" lol
I dont need to know there name,age, place of residence, seeing as im not some scam artist dude that additional information holds no value to me. In fact I can go so far as to say that I don't even care what the person does with the money because knowing that information doesn't change my plans for a win.
I deactivated that site almost 3 yrs ago. Unlike some members
“ l mean what are we talking about here?”- The jackpot winner, what else?
” I would really like to move past this post”- then why did you stop, if it irritates you?
Bye Felicia
You upset, but your own words betrayed you.
Peace.
Haha upset far from it......why would I be upset. You asked why did I stop to comment so I left. Why do you feel my words betrayed me?
Bye Felicia
You obviously need to first have a sense of humor in order to end up by posting “ bye bye..”
Your post started with “ lm confused” l merely piggy backed onto that line. No harm, no foul. I don’t think I was insulting but hey..
Im once again confused but this time Im wondering why you think I am mad or feel that you insulted me. If I felt that way I would simply stop posting and move on. To clarify I am neither mad nor do I feel any distinct negative feeling towards you. The only reason I commented on the post was because to me the comments were all over the place.
To add to this (super off topic) I still have a few more draws in my subscription for the MegaMs for the next 2-3 draws
"they could have been getting the ticket for a friend..."
Exactly. I cant count the number of times my brother has said to me "Hey! If you're stopping on your way home to buy some lottery tickets, here's five bucks, get me some quick picks, will ya?"
Just because somebody bought a ticket does NOT guarantee they bought it for themselves.
The gas station owner has absolutely no idea if the guy who he thinks bought the winning ticket bought it for themselves or if they bought it for someone else. In short, the gas station owner can not even be sure who bought the ticket, and even if he guessed correctly as to who bought it, how can the owner possibly know exactly who the person he assumes is the "winner" bought the ticket for? Not only that how would the owner know if the guy he suspects to be the winner didn't buy it as part of an office pool? G5
"I agree, if a business can't respect their customer's privacy, they will, and should, loose business."
I certainly don't disagree, but if you've got the first clue about human nature you have to assume that any time a retailer knows they sold a ticket for a major prize there's a very good chance that they're going to look at any video they have. It's probably much less likely at a large store, such as a grocery store, and stores that are part of a chain. I know that some of the chain stores in my area donate lottery bonuses to causes in the general area where the ticket was sold, which is another reason to buy at those stores, IMHO.
Of course for the owner to have a reasonable idea who the winner is the lottery would have to tell the retailer when the ticket was sold. Telling the public that a winning ticket was sold on "Thursday morning" or "Friday afternoon" is reasonable, but I can't see any logical reason why they would tell a retailer when the ticket was sold with enough precision for the retailer to actually know which sales was the winning ticket.
"the NJ lottery commission hasn't asked for the footage which I doubt they will unless no one calls or makes an attempt to claim this prize"
Waiting several months to get the video would be an incredibly bad idea, because it may not exist then. There's a chance the store would keep the video since they know they sold a winner, but normally video gets saved for a period of time and then gets overwritten by new video. Of course if you pay attention to what the article says, the lottery just hadn't taken possession as of whatever unknown time the lottery representative said he didn't have the video. Getting any video and reviewing it is a standard part of the security and validation process.
"the "regular" is more than likely to be someone who plays often"
Why would you think that? This jackpot didn't generate huge sales, but it did sell about 5 to 6 times as many tickets as were sold for all of the jackpots before it reached $204 million. The winner may be a regular customer, but if the retailer sold 5 or 6 times as many tickets as usual perhaps 2/3 of those tickets were sold to people who don't buy tickets on a regular basis.
"but if the retailer sold 5 or 6 times as many tickets as usual perhaps 2/3 of those tickets were sold to people who don't buy tickets on a regular basis."
It's also true that many players who buy tickets on a regular basis buy more tickets than they usually do because the jackpot has grown unusually large. Although I've no way of knowing if that's the case or not, that also could be true in this particular instance.
Yesterday I learned that I'm somewhat familiar with the town where the winning ticket was purchased. It's in northern New Jersey, and I've driven down the interstate highway that goes through the town of Riverdale many times. Riverdale is in a very nice part of Jersey - very suburban. I also saw the gas station owner interviewed by a local New York City TV station news reporter. The owner presented himself very well, he was well spoken, professionally dressed and looked to me like he had his act together. Given the kind of town/area his business is located in, I wasn't surprised. I've heard people say that part of New Jersey is "upscale". It's just a scientific wild guess on my part, but based upon me knowing what the overall Riverdale area is like, I'm thinking the winner hasn't come forward because they live in or near Riverdale, they know what they're doing and are quietly assembling a team of professionals to help them with their fantastic windfall. G5
"Why would you think that"
Are you asking me why man thinks? I'm confused because usually I have a thought and then I share it. To me the sales don't matter rather it generated 20 times as many tickets a regular is a regular so I fail to understand the significance of sharing this.
"If you pay attention to what the article says"
I did say that the NJ lotto commission hasn't asked for the footage.....which is what the article says. Then I added my opinion which I thought was allowed here. Maybe not
There are two people who for certain know who won.
The store owner who isn't talking and the winner of the jackpot.
We will have to wait. That is it my friends.
Now, what would take this jackpot win to another level is if, the winner in haste, had signed the back of the ticket, and then decided that it was a bad idea, and now wants to fight for anonymity...
Yeah I agree I had mentioned this briefly in the "One lottery ticket sold in New Jersey wins $521 million Mega Millions jackpot" post. I really hope this is not the case but in this day and age you just never know.
"He would not say whether the buyer purchased the ticket individually or for a group."
Has anyone on LP been asked by a store clerk if they are purchasing tickets for a group?
Not I. The only question I get is if I want the Power Play/ Megaplier.
I think buying tickets in large quantities (say >30) are interpreted as a group. Versus buying like 5 or 10 tickets like most people.
Ah yes that makes alot of sense. The stores I usually go to never seem to have a bunch of people there purchasing lotto tickets. I wish I could be in one of those "hanging around the corner lines" like you see sometimes on news channels when they start covering a large jackpot. Guess I need to find myself a lucky Virginia retailer.
When you posted “ Has anyone on LP been asked..” Stack, l had a lol moment, why? Cause a few nights before, l was watching “ No Country for Old Men”- and the scene at the gas station where the owner asks this killer “ You get any rain up there?” And the killer replies “ Where would that way be?” & following up with “ What business is it of yours where l come from?”
It reminded me that you could tell the lottery clerk the same thing“ What business is it of yours, whether l am buying for a group or not?” The only thing in this scenario- you would not whip out a quarter and tell the clerk to “ CALL IT!”
I had always heard that the winner's name and home town was published by the NJ Lottery Commission. What I found interesting about this article was that it mentioned that the winner could be either a person or an organization. From the various stories of lotto winners from NJ I have heard over the years, an organization has never claimed the prize. Is this something new? Can one claim their lottery prize via a trust or an LLC? Would love to hear others comments.
Yes you can claim via a LLC or trust (in Jersey) but as you mentioned I guess no one does it. Probably because they sign the ticket with there name first which would mean they have to be the person to collect the winnings and have their name shown as the winner. I'm not sure if this is a new thing or not you'd be best off looking that up.
Perhaps a player 'sent in a beard'.
owner Ameer Krass said Monday that the winner is a regular customer.
Meaning the owner should pretty much know that players buying habits. But even had they purchased more tickets than usual, it could just reflect the size of the jackpot. I bought three more tickets than zero I usually buy simply because of the half billion jackpot.
It just seemed odd to me that store clerk would know if the player was buying for a group. I was in a 30 member group and a few times I bought 150 $1 tickets, but I bought them at five different locations. If a clerk wanted to ask, 30 should have generated that question, but I was never asked.
“Congratulations, too, to the winner of this multi-million dollar jackpot! We encourage the winner to sign the back of the ticket, make a copy of both sides and put it in a safe place,
Read this on NJ Lottery web site, speaking of "what the Mass woman should have done".
I read in another article here that if you don't claim in a certain amount of time, like 90 or 160 days, I forget, 'they' choose the 30 installment plan for you. Maybe that rule or law might be different from state to state. but still... I'd take the cash option and I would cash in as soon as possible. That money isn't making me interest but the govt. And the IRS, are getting plenty already. The math is pretty simple and so is my the tax structure. they take 25% off the top and I'd take another 10%, put that off into a CD to pay off that tax next April. Have a lawyer set me up a banking business and I'd become my own banker. and instead of giving family & friends money. I'd loan it to them. That way it isn't a gift and can't be taxed as such or as income. That way if I give someone a million, they get a million, not $500,000 after all the taxes they'd have to pay, in fact, they'd be lucky to even get half.
You know what I actually thought about this once like lets just say I won more money then I could ever spend/gift/donate and I wanted to give my friend a lets say 30 year $1M loan with a interest rate of lets say 2.3 (using the current AFR long term rate). And then on top of that me and my wife gift him each 15 k yearly (the max tax free gift amount to a individual).
1.Lets do the math $1,000,000 * .023= 23,000
2. Since we are gifting him 30k he can easily pay this money back and then he still has money to invest or whatever. Which means he would have to worry about capital gains tax from investments but still I don't see how he wouldn't benefit from something like this. Although this was just a thought im sure theres other stuff to look at
3. AFter the 30 years or whatever he could just give me the rest of the money for tax purposes but in the meantime he's had 30 years to travel and not worry about having to work some job he hates. Or he can go to school and I could still cover all this books/tuition while he living off the loan and enjoying life but will be able to go into a field /wait for the job he really wants.
You know what I'm thinking.......since this is a plan I thought about and im sure im not the first one...this tells me that my idea probably is either not legal or will still result in me paying some type of tax still.
Which is why I've told myself I would just give what ever I wanted and not care about the 5-6 million limit before the huge tax penalty lol.
The answer to that is simple. The accountant would be able to answer that.
I have plenty of ideas what I would do with winnings.
wande43. Went to NJ lottery website FAQ. It says in brief that the tickets default to Annuity if no choice is made. You can change it to lump sum when you claim it even if it had defaulted to Annuity. You CANNOT change from lump sum which you decided @ time of purchase to Annuity.
"if you don't claim in a certain amount of time, like 90 or 160 days, I forget, 'they' choose the 30 installment plan for you. "
The IRS gives 60 days to make the decision, but the clock only starts when you claim the prize. IIRC it goes back to the switch from annuities as the only choice to the option to chose between the annuity or the lump sum, and is based on the doctrine of constructive receipt or economic benefit. Just because somebody promises/owes you money doesn't mean that you'll get it, so the mere promise of money doesn't make it taxable. Once the lottery is actually ready and willing to give you the entire (lump) sum it becomes taxable income. It's only be restricting your access with an annuity that constructive receipt of most of the prize is deferred, and therefore not taxable in the year you get the first check. That's why you can't change from lump sum to annuity once you've selected the lump sum. By selecting the lump sum you've taken constructive receipt and owe taxes on the full amount, with no option to wait on collecting and paying taxes.
"instead of giving family & friends money. I'd loan it to them." "my idea probably is either not legal or will still result in me paying some type of tax"
It's legal to loan money to friends and family and it's legal to make annual gifts so I think the overall scheme would be legal, but somebody will pay taxes. You can loan them the money, but of course you have to charge interest at a fair rate or it's considered a gift. Let's pretend that 2.3% is realistic. If you loan somebody $1 million for 30 years at 2.3% the monthly payments will be $3848, which comes to $46,176 per year. In the first year the interest portion is very nearly $23,000, and over the life of the loan you'll collect $385k in taxable interest income. If you've won the lottery and have enough to give somebody a million bucks you're likely to (currently) pay 37% in federal taxes on that income. That's about 142k, but you get to spread it over 30 years. Since it's front end loaded let's just call it an even 10% effective gift tax, which is a lot better than the usual 40% tax rate on gifts. The recipient would have to pay income tax on any income from the money, but that would be pretty insignificant compared to the gift tax rate, and they'd still be paying that income tax even if the money was an outright gift.
You've also got to make annual gifts of $46,176 so they can make the loan payments, but that money comes back over the next 12 months, so it's a wash. If it turns out to be unlawful this is where/why I expect that would happen. By making the annual gifts you're effectively waiving the required repayment. Waiving the repayment isn't illegal, but it does have the unpleasant tax consequence of turning the $1 million into taxable income for the recipient. Because the AFR rate is lower than a fair market rate making the loan and then making annual gifts of enough to make the loan payments could easily be viewed as a tax dodge, and that certainly seems to be the intent as far as this discussion goes. Figuring out if the IRS has specifically addressed this scenario requires more than a quick Google search.
Circling back to constructive receipt and economic benefit, I think there should be a giant loophole. The IRS is on record, as a result of a legal case, as saying that you don't have constructive receipt and the resulting tax liability until sometime after submitting your claim. I view that as meaning that your ticket with the winning numbers is still only worth its face value until you submit the claim. If that's the case giving somebody a 1% share in the ticket would mean you've given them a gift worth a few cents to half a buck, depending on the cost of the ticket. That's well within the annual exclusion, so it wouldn't trigger any gift tax. OTOH, since that case the IRS has issued rulings that sharing a ticket does constitute a sizable gift, but I don't know if the winners in those cases argued the economic benefit angle.
Finally, you can always have an agreement to share any winnings even before buying a ticket, and I don't see any reason that the shares can't be very unequal. You'd just have to make sure that the sharing agreement is in writing, and can be enforced by all parties. Of course it would have to be for a portion of the ticket(s) rather than a set dollar amount, and if you won 10k or $1 million you'd have to share the prize even though your real intent was to avoid gift taxes on the gifts you could afford if you won a big jackpot.