The largest lottery prize won so far this year in Massachusetts has been claimed nearly two months after it won. But the winner’s name wasn’t released.
The $16.35 million ticket was sold at Cumberland Farms in Ware. It was won off of a “Megabucks Doubler” drawing Sept. 10.
After nearly two months, NorthLand Adventures Nominee Trust of Springfield claimed the prize. The trust was represented by trustee Hyman Darling. Darling chose the annuity option on its prize and received a check for $827,000 before taxes, which is the first of 20 annual payments.
The store will also receive a $50,000 bonus for its sale of the jackpot winning ticket.
Massachusetts isn’t one of the states that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous. But it can still happen — it just takes more time.
The Massachusetts Lottery allows winners to create a trust, in which a trustee is able to turn in the winning ticket, receive the check and then deposit it into a bank account set up for the beneficiary or lottery winner.
“Prizes can be claimed by a trust or other legal entities that fulfill the definition of a legal person,” Mark William Bracken, Interim Executive Director of the Massachusetts State Lottery said. “The identity of the trustee or legal representative is made public. Over the last several years, we have seen an increase in the number of large prizes claimed by trusts.”
In recent years, more Massachusetts State Lottery winners are staying anonymous.
“One of the most frequent pieces of advice new lottery winners get from others is to try as hard as possible to remain anonymous,” Baker Law Group’s website states. “If your name and photograph is published, there’s a strong chance you could find yourself quickly harassed with calls and requests for money.”
However, the law group doesn’t suggest waiting long.
”The longer you leave the ticket unsigned, the more you risk someone taking it and claiming it for themselves,” the website states. “If you must sign it before the trust is created, sign it small so you can leave space to add trustees and the name of the trust you’ll establish.”
But the winners don’t remain completely anonymous.
Lottery spokesman Christian Teja previously told The Republican that the secrecy only involves the public. All members of a trust are required to be identified by the lottery for its internal records.
The lottery runs the names of those in a trust past other state agencies, including the state Department of Revenue, the Child Support Enforcement Division, Office of the State Comptroller and the Department of Transitional Assistance. The names of the winners are checked to see if they owe the state money for child support, income taxes, tuition and fees at state colleges, or Mass Health payments. If so, the amount owed is garnished from the winnings.
Prior to the September drawing, the largest lottery prizes won in Massachusetts this year were two $15 million prizes. Both lottery prizes were claimed by trusts.
But a jackpot prize Wednesday night could change things.
The Powerball jackpot is worth an estimated $1.2 billion. The drawing is scheduled for 10:59 p.m. Wednesday.
If won, the $1.2 billion Powerball jackpot prize will be the second-largest ever won in the United States behind a $1.537 billion Powerball jackpot won in South Carolina on Oct. 23, 2018.
Powerball is played in 45 states, and its odds of winning are 1 in 292 million.