A person with a ticket matching all six Powerball numbers in Saturday’s $1.3 billion jackpot came forward Monday to claim the prize, Oregon officials said.
The lottery ticket was purchased at a Plaid Pantry convenience store in the northeast part of the city, Oregon Lottery said in a statement.
Oregon Lottery is working with the person in a process that involves security measures and vetting that will take time before a winner is announced.
“This is an unprecedented jackpot win for Oregon Lottery,” Oregon Lottery Director Mike Wells said in the statement. “We’re taking every precaution to verify the winner before awarding the prize money.”
Not everyone who plays the lottery plays it consistently. I think I’m reasonably responsible with money, and I’m probably spending something like $20/year playing the lottery. If I won, the very first thing I’d do is get a lawyer. I wouldn’t even tell my friends or family until I got things sorted with a lawyer.
You don’t sound like the typical person I hear about winning the lottery.
That’s because you don’t hear about the majority of people winning the lottery. In some states, you can claim it anonymously (I know in CA you can’t). In those that don’t allow anonymous claims, you can set up an LLC to claim it.
People tell stories about the lottery winners who go bankrupt, but there are million dollar tickets sold literally every week. You don’t hear much about those because the jackpots are in the hundreds of millions now.
I am a fiscally responsible person with the amount of money I make. I spend more money on beer in a week than I do lottery tickets in a year, but I still drop a $20 when the jackpots hit a billion. If I would have won, I wouldn’t have told anyone except a trusted financial planner/adviser until all the stuff is all set up, and then I would only tell a few specific people. To everyone else, I would just say I helped a buddy start a new company that was sold to investors. You wouldn’t ever hear about me.
Even in California, the only information you’re required to release is your name and the city (maybe even the exact store) the ticket was purchased. You don’t have to get your picture taken and everything, someone with a commonish name living in a populated area could easily stay anonymous.