Winning big on the lottery has taken a whole new meaning with some of the prizes available these days. The $1.128 billion prize, won in New Jersey, is the fifth biggest lotto win in state history, and it took the winner nine months to come forward.
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I think if I won a billion dollars I would have to take a few days to come to terms with it too. However, it wouldn't take me 9 months to come forward. That kind of money is life-changing for generations. What do you even do with a win of that size?
The New Jersey lotto winner has chosen, wisely, to stay anonymous. But, they did pick up the ticket from the Monmouth County ShopRite in Neptune, New Jersey. The owner of the shop also got a payout of $30,000. This pales in comparison to the monstrous amount of money won by the New Jersey lotto winner, though.
9 Month Wait to Claim Mega Lotto Prize
It took a solid 9 months for the winning ticket owner to come forward to claim their prize. The reasons for waiting so long are unclear. Maybe they lost their ticket or forgot they had even played. Losing a ticket of that value would cause me some serious anxiety. Knowing there is a prize worth a small country's GDP is insane.
The identity of the New Jersey lotto winner has to be revealed to the lotto officials. However, they can stay anonymous for as long as they like. However, I think with over $1 billion available, it'll be hard to hide. Going from zero to private jet-owning hero doesn't slip under people's radars.
Despite the winning lotto ticket being found, the winner may have to wait a while for their cash. There have been many cases of people not being able to get prizes much smaller than these for months. The money has to be cut up, shared, and skimmed by every tax group in the U.S. I am sure the New Jersey lotto winner will only end up with less than half of the original billion, but it's still going to be obscene amounts of money.
