The week-long mystery surrounding the winner of the behemoth Powerball jackpot of $590.5 million, the second-largest jackpot on record, has finally come forward to claim the whopping prize.
Who is the lucky winner? The sole winner has been described as woman in her 70s from Zephyrhills, Florida, WFLA news notes. She came to claim her prize at lottery headquarters, in Tallahassee on Wednesday. If the winner decides to take the Powerball jackpot winnings as a lump sum, she would have cashed in a lump sum of $270million after paying taxes.
Her identity has not been revealed yet, but Florida Lottery officials have announced a 2:30 p.m. press conference this afternoon to share more details regarding the lucky Powerball jackpot winner.
The now-millionaire bought the winning ticket at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, a town of 13,000 about 30 miles northeast of Tampa.
The May 18 drawing resulted in the largest single-ticket winner in U.S. history. One previous lottery jackpot was larger than the $590million sum - a $656million MegaMillions drawing last March - though three tickets matched the winning numbers and had to split the prize.
Zephyrhills is a small town 30 miles northeast of downtown Tampa with a population of 13,337. Despite being a close knit town, this is one of the longest mysteries that has even left residents peering at each other with curiosity.
"Being in a small town, everybody knows everybody and in some cases, everybody's business," Dave Walters, a reporter with a local newspaper, told the Associated Press. "It's hard to keep a secret in this town, but this is one of the biggest mysteries we've had in a long, long time."
The Powerball jackpot winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11. The chances of winning were astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million.
