Sole Winner Of $1.5 BILLION Mega Millions Jackpot Finally Comes Forward With One Month To Spare

Source - The sole winner of the $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot from October 2018 has come forward and submitted a claim for the prize, lottery officials announced.

The winner, from South Carolina, has elected to remain anonymous and chose the cash option of a one-time payment of $877,784,124. The winning ticket was purchased between Oct. 20 and 23 at the KC Mart in Simpsonville, South Carolina.

“Finally somebody claimed the ticket. Good for him, good for me,” the store’s owner, C.J. Patel, told ABC News on Monday. Patel stands to make a $50,000 commission for selling the winning ticket. He said that after taxes, he stands to collect $25,000 to $30,000. “It’s already spent,” said Patel, adding that he has spent the windfall on bills.

The payout is the largest to a single winner in United States history, officials said. The winner had until 5 p.m. on April 19 to come forward with the winning ticket.

I’ll keep this short- fuck this guy. You wait until you have one month left to claim your $877,784,124 CASH prize? Why? What happens if you lose the ticket? What happens if you put it through the wash? What happens if someone finds out you have a billion-dollar piece of paper in your house? What could you possibly have been planning for five whole months? Get a lawyer, sign the ticket, take it to the lottery office, and go on vacation for the rest of your life. It takes five minutes. Not only that, he made poor C.J. Patel dip into his life savings, unsure of whether or not he’d ever get the commission check to pay his bills because he was too much of a wimp to claim his prize. Thank God he did. Better late than never, I guess. And yeah, maybe I’m just upset I wasn’t the person who won, but I don’t care. So congrats, ya jerk. Spend it well.

PS: Super weird promo video from the South Carolina lottery announcing the winner.