TOP 10 JACKPOTS
Here’s a look at the top 10 world record lottery jackpots.
1. $656 million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2012 (3 tickets from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland)
2. $590 million, Powerball, (1 ticket from Florida)
3. $587.5 million, Powerball, Nov. 28, 2012 (2 tickets from Arizona and Missouri)
4. $390 million, Mega Millions, March 6, 2007 (2 tickets from Georgia and New Jersey)
5. $380 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 4, 2011 (2 tickets from Idaho and Washington)
6. $365 million, Powerball, Feb. 18, 2006 (1 ticket from Nebraska)
7. $363 million, The Big Game, May 9, 2000 (2 tickets from Illinois and Michigan)
8. $340 million, Powerball, Oct. 19, 2005 (1 ticket from Oregon)
9. $338.3 million, Powerball, March 23, 2013 (1 ticket from New Jersey)
10. $337 million, Powerball, Aug. 15, 2012 (1 ticket from Michigan)
Associated Press
An 84-year-old Florida woman who bought her Powerball ticket after another customer let her get ahead in line came forward Wednesday to claim the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in history: $590 million.
Gloria C. MacKenzie, who lives in a modest, tin-roof house in Zephyrhills, where the sole winning ticket in the May 18 drawing was bought, took her prize in a lump sum of just more than $370 million. After federal taxes, she is taking home about $270 million, lottery officials said.
She did not speak to a crowd of reporters outside lottery headquarters, leaving quickly in a silver Ford Focus with her son and family friends. She was accompanied at the lottery offices by two unidentified attorneys.
MacKenzie bought the winning ticket at a Publix supermarket in the town of about 13,300 people 30 miles northeast of Tampa. It is best known for the bottled spring water that bears its name — and now, for one of the biggest lottery winners of all time.
The $590 million was the second-largest lottery jackpot in history, behind a $656 million Mega Millions prize in March 2012, but that sum was split, with three winning tickets.
In a statement read by lottery officials, MacKenzie said she purchased the ticket after another buyer “was kind enough to let me go ahead in line.” MacKenzie let the lottery computers generate the numbers at random. She said she also bought four other tickets for the drawing.
“We are grateful with this blessing of winning the Florida Lottery Powerball jackpot,” the statement said. “We hope that everyone would give us the opportunity to maintain our privacy for our family’s benefit.”
The winner had 60 days to claim the prize. Lottery spokesman David Bishop said MacKenzie, her lawyers and her financial adviser spent about two hours going through the necessary paperwork.
“They had clearly been preparing for this. They took all this time to get everything in order,” Bishop said.
Minutes after the announcement, a dozen reporters in Zephyrhills were camped outside MacKenzie’s gray duplex, which backs up to a dirt alley and is across from a cow pasture.
Neighbors were surprised by her good fortune.
“She didn’t say anything about it. She’s so quiet and secluded. She’s usually in the house,” James Hill said. “I’m very happy for her. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person. She was always pleasant and smiling.”
Another neighbor, Don Cecil, joked, “I hope she gets a better place to live.”
MacKenzie’s neighbors offered few details about her life, including how long she had lived there and whether she was married. They said she mostly kept to herself, but they saw her take short walks along the street and exchanged pleasantries with her.
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