June 5, 2013: Zephyrhills woman, 84, claims record Powerball prize
No one had ever won such a large Powerball prize without having to share it. But Gloria C. Mackenzie, 84, of Zephyrhills, bought the winning ticket at a Publix supermarket after another ticket buyer waiting in line stepped aside and let her go ahead.
Mackenzie let the computer pick her numbers. |
The drawing took place two weeks before Mackenzie, her son, and two attorneys arrived in Tallahassee to claim her prize, and the widow from East Millinocket, Maine, kept the secret from neighbors and even her brother-in-law as she put her affairs in order.
She took her prize in a $370 lump sum and netted about $278 million after federal taxes. She did not speak to reporters assembled outside the lottery office and issued a statement asking for privacy.
Minutes after she was announced as the winner, reporters were gathered outside her modest tin-roof home in a neighborhood of mostly mobile and modular homes.
The following month, Mackenzie bought a $1.2 million home in a country club community in southeast Jacksonville.
Powerball grew out of a multi-state lottery game created in 1987 by Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Rhode Island, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Florida began selling the game in 2009.
Read the story in the Tampa Bay Times: Powerball winner from Zephyrhills claims prize
She took her prize in a $370 lump sum and netted about $278 million after federal taxes. She did not speak to reporters assembled outside the lottery office and issued a statement asking for privacy.
Minutes after she was announced as the winner, reporters were gathered outside her modest tin-roof home in a neighborhood of mostly mobile and modular homes.
The following month, Mackenzie bought a $1.2 million home in a country club community in southeast Jacksonville.
Powerball grew out of a multi-state lottery game created in 1987 by Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Rhode Island, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Florida began selling the game in 2009.
Read the story in the Tampa Bay Times: Powerball winner from Zephyrhills claims prize