Check Your Ticket: $533 Million Mega Millions Winner Yet to Come Forward

Posted on: April 3, 2018, 02:00h. 

Last updated on: April 3, 2018, 12:48h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

Speculation continues to swirl around the identity of America’s tenth largest lottery jackpot winner, who at the time of writing has not yet come forward.

The lucky customer won a $533 million Mega Millions jackpot on Friday night, having purchased a ticket at a Lukoil gas station and convenience store in Riverdale, New Jersey, about 25 miles northwest of New York City.

Store owner Ameer Krass confirmed to USA TODAY Monday that having reviewed the surveillance he knew who the winner was but was keeping a lid on it. He had not spoken to the customer, he said. He was giving them “the space they deserve.”

“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 alleged. “We may be a highway station, but we have that in-town feel.”

Mystery Man

A cashier who said she was not authorized to speak to the press confirmed she believed the winner to be male.

Krass, meanwhile, received $30,000 for selling the winning ticket and was presented with a giant novelty check on Monday.

Of course, there’s small a chance the mystery man may choose not to claim the prize at all. Fearing for his loss of privacy, and potential safety, he might wish to avoid the monumental emotional upheaval of winning the lottery altogether.

In New Jersey, the law requires a lottery winner’s name and town be made public, which can expose winners unwanted attention. It is possible to seek anonymity by claiming the prize through a nominated trust, however.

Privacy Battle

Last month, a New Hampshire Powerball winner took the matter to the courts and ultimately won the right to preserve her anonymity and to claim her $560 million prize. The judge agreed with the plaintiff’s claim that she would be subjected to an “alarming amount of harassment, solicitation, and other unwanted communications,” should her name be revealed.

He also decided that because she planned to give a large amount of her winnings to good causes, her “privacy interest in the nondisclosure of her name outweighs the public’s interest in the disclosure of her name.”

Should the mystery Mega Millions winner ultimately reveal himself, he has the option to take the entire $533 million (less taxes) in 30 annual instalments, or $324 million as a lump sum.