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U.S. NEWS Friday 25 august 2017

Massachusetts hospital worker claims record lottery jackpot

Massachusetts Treasurer numbers that she chose.
Deb Goldberg said she of- The winning ticket, she said,
fered advice to the family was one with numbers that
about being careful with used family birthdays.
their newfound wealth. Her inspiration for the final
“A lot of people will be digit — the Powerball —
coming at them with all came from her penchant
sorts of things,” Goldberg for playing the number four
told reporters. “I highly en- number every Friday in a
courage them to find very, Keno game with her moth-
very good lawyers and ad- er, stepfather and a friend.
visers and think very, very The announcement that a
carefully about how they winner had come forward
are going to manage their came after a turbulent
assets.” morning in which lottery of-
Wanczyk bought a total of ficials initially misidentified
five tickets. Two were com- not only the store that sold
puter-generated Power- the winning ticket, but the
ball tickets, and three used town.q

Mavis Wanczyk, of Chicopee, Mass., stands by a poster of her winnings during a news conference
where she claimed the $758.7 million Powerball prize at Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters,
Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017, in Braintree, Mass. Officials said it is the largest single-ticket Powerball
prize in U.S. history. At left is state treasurer Deb Goldberg.
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By BOB SALSBERG more money spread out at Mercy Medical Center
Associated Press over several decades. in Springfield, the hospital
BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) — A Even after paying taxes said.
53-year-old Massachusetts on the winnings, Wanczyk About a month ago, she
hospital worker stepped is worth more than some shared a post on Face-
forward Thursday to claim small countries such as Mi- book joking that she need-
the biggest undivided lot- cronesia, which has a gross ed a vacation. “And by
tery jackpot in U.S. history domestic product of $322 ‘vacation,’” the post read,
— a $758.7 million Power- million, or the Pacific islands “I mean I need to move
ball prize — after breaking of Palau, with a GDP of away and find a new job.
the news to her employer $293 million, according to On a beach. With rum.”
the way the rest of us only 2016 figures from the World The jackpot is the largest
dream of: “I called and Bank. ever won with a single tick-
told them I will not be com- The previous evening, she et. It is the second-largest
ing back.” recalled, she was leaving U.S. lottery prize, ahead of
“The first thing I want to do work with a firefighter and a $656 million Mega Millions
is just sit back and relax,” remarked, “It’s never go- prize won by three people
Mavis L. Wanczyk told re- ing to be me. It’s just a pipe in 2012. But Wednesday’s
porters at a news confer- dream that I’ve always big prize is still dwarfed by a
ence. had.” $1.6 billion Powerball jack-
Wanczyk chose to take a Then she read the number pot divvied up between
lump-sum payment of $480 on her ticket and realized three winners in January
million, or $336 million after she had won. 2016.
taxes, lottery officials said. Wanczyk worked for 32 Wanczyk has two adult
Winners who take a grad- years in a clerical job in children, a daughter and
ual payout stand to get the nursing department a son.