A 53-year-old Massachusetts mother of two, Mavis Wanczyk has come forward to claim the largest single jackpot win in US history, $758.7m and she didn’
A 53-year-old Massachusetts mother of two, Mavis Wanczyk has come forward to claim the largest single jackpot win in US history, $758.7m and she didn’t waste time in quitting her job of 32 years at a hospital.
Mavis Wanczyk said she played the lottery as a pipe dream, never believing that it would one day be possible for her to retire early from the Mercy Medical Centre, where she has worked for decades. But on Thursday, that dream came true.
“I’ve called up and told them I will not be coming back. I’m going to go hide in my bed!” she said when asked how she planned to celebrate.
Wanczyk selected the winning numbers including a blend of family birthdays and bought the ticket from a convenience store in Chicopee, a small town west of Boston.
“I was there just to buy it for luck,” she explained, still dazed after her monumental win.
Powerball called Wednesday’s draw the highest jackpot won on a single ticket and the biggest lottery prize ever awarded to one single person. She now has the choice of taking the jackpot as an annuity spread over 30 years or a one-off cash lump sum of $480.5 million, depending on state taxes.
She said she found out she had won from a colleague when they were leaving work overnight and promptly went into shock.
“I couldn’t drive anywhere, I couldn’t do anything,” she said. “So he followed me actually to make sure I was safely home. Now it’s like, ‘I am a winner, and I’m scared, but I’ll be ok.”
Wanczyk, who has a 31-year-old daughter and 26-year-old son, said she has previously been ok financially and had yet to work out how to spend her millions, other than paying off the car she bought last year. While she could have remained anonymous, she said she came forward so quickly because she wanted to get it over with hoping that everybody would leave her alone.
The $758.7m jackpot is Powerball’s highest since a January 2016 world record of $1.6bn, which was split between three ticket holders from California, Florida and Tennessee. Each took home $528.8m. Powerball is played in 44 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The draw takes place every Wednesday and Saturday nights.
