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.
There.Is.No.Phone.Route
There is only ONE way to verify a winning ticket. I keep telling you this and you've overlooked this detail like 4 times now.
Let's backtrack here.....
What you are wanting is for the winner to call the lottery office (to verify said ticket) so people can stop worrying about the ticket but in hindsight the only way to verify the ticket is to have it read through the machine in the lottery office. Not a copy of the ticket......not a picture...the actual physical ticket. Ive never heard a case nor would it be smart to do this before you're ready to claim the ticket just so people (whom the winner could probably care less about) won't worry about the ticket not being claimed. Again you can't just call and give them to verify it. You have to take the ticket into the office to have it verified. Im repeating this because you seem to not understand this very important detail in your response each time. The lottery office has already made their money from people buying the tickets anyways so I mean who cares.....the state receives the money after it's claimed but this article wasn't written through the eyes of the state government it was from the state lottery office (they're not the same thing). Even if the winner just decided not to claim it won't effect the state lottery besides maybe people thinking it's rigged. Granted once again people can claim anonymously so more than likely anyone reading about the winner in the future won't see any details regardless. Just to say it thrice you cannot verify your winning ticket by phone/email/ pigeon mail/s.o.s/ etc only by taking the ticket to the office. Special note......you can depending on your state mail the ticket in but even if you could I doubt many jackpot winners especially at this amount would go that route......especially with the government shutdown.
Sooo very true!
I said it before, but I'll say it again, subscriptions are the way to go. If you win small prizes, they are automatically credited to your account. If you win large prizes, the Lottery will contact you. You can't liolo your ticket, or it cannot be stolen. All lotteries should offer such a service.
My problem with subs is just that I prefer to play a number once only usually just random quick picks. Here in VA the subs are for (4) draws at a minimum.
paymentplan-man, I understand the verification process here in California. I do not want the winner/s, financial adviser to try to verify the ticket over the phone. I think that the financial adviser can call the Lottery Office and follow the procedures to identify the ticket as the winner. It will not be verified. The Lottery Office will decide if the call is a hoax or not. The Lottery Office will also decide if they will alert the public. I have no idea what the Lottery Office's procedures are.
Verification is the physically delivering the winning ticket to the Lottery Office and then it will be sent through an hour's long inspection. SLED the Security and Law Enforcement Department will also verify the ticket.
The winner/s must go through a short security interview as well. Here in CA, it is for jackpots that are $350,000.00 or higher.
I hope that the winner goes public!
Somehow I don't feel bad for the SCL. Really? Cry much? Whether someone comes forward to claim their riches has nothing to do with your "fiscal budget".
I heard 20 people won this , it was a group. It doesn't make sense to take this long
to announce it , must be a bigger reason , why it's taking this long !!!!!
It could take up to a year , just to get everything taken care financially .
They don't have a year.....only up until April 21, 2019
music,
You posted this in the thread about Virginia allowing winners to be anonymous;
The young man from Georgia was Craigory Burch Jr. a 20-year-old Fantasy 5 winner. He won $434,272.00 on 11/30/2015. Seven of the murderers have been caught.
Some say that he should have been more discreet about gifting charities.
I believe that anonymity would have saved his life. Lessons for all of us to learn.
Yet in this thread you say this;
I hope that the winner goes public!
So somehow in your mind,
The young man from Georgia was Craigory Burch Jr. a 20-year-old Fantasy 5 winner. He won $434,272.00 on 11/30/2015. Seven of the murderers have been caught.
A winner of $434,272 should have been allowed to claim anonymously bur you want a winner of $1.5 Billion to go public.
Does not compute.
Coin Toss, Each winner is different. I do not restrict anyone from doing one thing or the other.
Some will welcome publicity and others not. Craigory Burch Jr. did not have a choice.
If this massive prize does go unclaimed (not surprising given how many people buy tickets and then lose them or throw them in the trash), returning the money to the state governments makes this game even MORE of a bad deal for players.
The state already gets a huge cut of the wager... about 50%. Keeping all the unclaimed prizes is basically double-dipping.
A more fair way to run a lottery is to put unclaimed prizes back into the jackpot. You wouldn't want to do this all at once, instead add $50 million of the $1.5 billion to the jackpot for each drawing (in addition to the amount it goes up anyway based on sales if no winners) until all $1.5 billion is given away. That's 30 drawings with an extra $50 million added (so $90 million minimum jackpot rather than 40), which would take 4 months.
The result would be more players willing to play for the bigger jackpots, some of whom will continue to play after the 4 months is up, and since the state gets half the wager anyway, the states get more in total. But that requires some logic, and since they're stupid and greedy, I fully expect them to stick to the rules and just keep the $1.5 billion for themselves. That would make sense (for the states) if MM is a game to be terminated right now, but if they are going to continue to sell tickets, well then screw them.
I have already stated on this forum that MM/PB is a terrible game to play, and no one should ever play it, and if the $1.5 billion jackpot is not claimed and the states keep it, then just add that to the list of reasons NOT to play this awful game.
"There is only ONE way to verify a winning ticket."
There's only one way to validate a winning ticket. The lottery can verify a winner over the phone with near certainty based on the information printed on the ticket. The lottery has that information for every single ticket, and anyone in possession of a ticket has that information for the ticket in their hand. It's also possible to copy the barcode and send the copy to the lottery. Even if part of the character string that identifies the ticket could be guessed based on public information it would still be perhaps a 1 in a million chance at best to have the correct information without having access to the ticket.
It's also an absolute certainty that people have already called the SC lottery and claimed they have the winning ticket. There's a chance that a paranoid winner wouldn't give them enough correct information to be certain, but the vast majority of claims would be easily ruled out based on the incorrect information offered. Whether the winner has called and been verified doesn't mean much, and it's very unlikely that the lottery would reveal that. The winner could still lose the ticket or fail to claim on time, so the state still can't be positive they'll collect the income tax (again, for those of you who haven't figured it out, the story is about the state's budgeting process and has nothing to do with the lottery department). The only thing that verification would do is let the lottery know that the winner is aware and is planning on claiming by the deadline. There's only one thing that would do that I can think of, and that's keep the lottery from publicizing video showing the winner because they're worried that the winner may not know. Everything else has to wait until the ticket is presented and validated.
"If SC wanted a courtesy call three months in, they should have written the law to address that."
It might make sense for the lottery to suggest that people notify them if they're going to wait more than a couple of months, but there's no way it can be anything other than voluntary. If there was an actual requirement to call any penalty for not calling means that the claim period has been effectively shortened.
"what would happen if the ticket owner(s) pass away unexpectedly before claiming ticket?"
Like any other property, the inheritance is pretty straightforward (the ticket would almost certainly have to be claimed as part of the estate, and estate taxes paid), but other things could get interesting. If nobody else knew you've won the ticket might not be found in time, and even if others knew it would be very useful to know where the ticket is. In this case I'm sure everybody who had a relative die within 50 miles of Simpsonville SC has at least thought about ransacking their house.
I can only see two realistic possibilities for the ticket being lost and going unclaimed, and both involve dead winners. One would be a local winner that hadn't told anyone yet. When somebody dies the bank is supposed to seal their safety deposit box, so there's a chance that even their executor wouldn't find a ticket inside until too late. The other possibility is that somebody from well outside the area bought the ticket and died before telling anybody they'd won. In that case maybe nobody would have any reason to go looking for the ticket.
I know. I hate that process. Maybe the VA lottery can change that process. I do not like playing the same numbers for more than 1 draw and rarely 2 draws.
Any jackpot winner should have two Simplisafe alarm systems operating independently in their home with panic buttons, and keep a panic fob in their pocket. Along with Ring at the front, and back doors.
I realize a previous poster went the dramatic and rather macabre way of the winner being dead. Why can't it be like most hiccups in life...the person bought a slew of them from a self serve machine and the ticket simply got jammed and no one was the wiser. In the mist of it being jammed it was torn so ergo- defective for claim. Thus why NO one has come forward...because NO one can claim it.
Sorry but I cannot subscribe to the go seen an accountant and blah blah blah. You Get it verified and then til it even gets the check cut to you...you can be working with your tax adviser and financial team...
I reside in the same town as a Pb winner of over 200 million. No death threats ever or any stalking. She claimed it...and preceded with her life. I realize this is contrary to the whackadoodles who think every claimant of large sums is going to get whacked.
If it goes unclaimed I say we give it sporadically to the furloughed govt employees...thats a nice way to give back to the community :)
Do you know that pb winner? It is theoretically impossible that she did not receive email and mail and personal approaches from people asking for money and other incidents. There is always a danger with that large a sum of money and anyone who does not take precautions, is reckless and naive. Just because the winner was not killed or stalked, does not mean the winner is living in a carefree fairyland.
By the way, the furloughed employees are going back to work and will get all their back pay, as always happens. I vote for giving any unclaimed money to homeless shelters, food banks, etc.
Maybe there's a mummified corpse still holding the ticket. The elderly person without children, watched the drawing live, realized they won, & had a massive stroke, or massive heart attack, and died instantly. Who knows? Someone could have died realizing they won the billion dollar jackpot. It's speculation at this moment.
That sounds like it could be a plot for a movie!
Oh, wait....
Has anybody if anymore about this $1.5 BILLION winner(s) ??????
I heard a group of people won it , haven't heard anymore !!!!
as i see it if it was me i would wait until i get everything in order and make them do what they have done to others
congrats to the winners
..then again, perhaps the winner is undaunted by both the public's & lottery officials curiosity. The winner may have passed away or the ticket no longer exists * landfill or victim of the laundry room.If socks can go missing there, why not a lottery ticket?
If I won this lottery $1.5 Billion , my lawyers would've already turned the ticket in .
"WXYZ " "LLC"