The biggest news in the gambling world last week was that an unnamed lottery player from Florida won the Mega Millions lottery on Tuesday. The winning numbers were 13, 19, 20, 32, and 33, along with a Mega Ball 14, with the prize being roughly $1.6 billion. The winning ticket was sold at a Publix supermarket in Neptune Beach, which will receive a $100,000 bonus for selling it.
This is the fourth time someone from Florida won the lottery, but no one before last Tuesday won such a huge amount. This is the biggest lottery win in the history of the Sunshine State. It’s also the second-biggest lottery win in the history of the United States, with the record-holding jackpot being drawn last year when a player from California hit Powerball’s $2.04 billion jackpot.
The lucky Florida winner, however, won’t be a lottery billionaire. The thing is that a huge chunk of that $1.6 billion jackpot will be taken by the US in the form of federal tax, which is about 37%. What this means is that the lottery winner will get “only” about $494 million after taxes.
Who Is the Lucky Mega Millions Jackpot Winner?
No one knows, at least not at the moment. As per a state law passed last year in Florida, the identity of the winner doesn’t have to be until 90 days after the draw. The bill came as a way of protecting the winners as there were some instances where big-money winners were targeted by criminals right after winning the jackpot.
However, after the end of the 90-day period, Florida requires the lottery to share the info about the jackpot winners (who won $250,000 or more) in an effort to keep the business transparent.
