In order to avoid having to reveal their identity to the public, the $31 million Mega Millions jackpot winner from the Massachusetts State Lottery came out and accepted their award through a trust.
The reward was accepted on behalf of the unidentified winner by S & L Trust, through trustee Leo J. Cushing.
Cushing earned a one-time payment of $16,542,158, before taxes, for selecting the cash option on the Mega Millions jackpot reward.
In the Dorchester headquarters of the Massachusetts State Lottery, the reward was claimed on March 8th.
The winning Quic Pic ticket was bought in Woburn at Gibbs, 107 Winn St. 07-09-18-29-39 and MegaBall 13 were the winning combinations. For selling the winning ticket, Gibbs is given a bonus of $50,000.
In contrast to other jurisdictions, Massachusetts does not let lottery winners to maintain their anonymity. Winners must go through the Massachusetts State Lottery's trust creation process in order to prevent their names from being made public.
The lottery winner's prize is collected by the trustee, who also deposits the winnings check into the trust fund established by the Massachusetts State Lottery for the beneficiary or lottery winner.
This enables the winner's name to remain private between them and the lottery while the trustee's name and image are made public to the media.
The $33 million Mega Millions jackpot was won on January 24 by an unidentified player using a Belchertown-purchased ticket.
The winner also decided to have a trust submit a claim on their behalf. On March 1, Skylark Group Trust asserted ownership of the award on behalf of the winner.
The $758.7 million Powerball jackpot won in the drawing on August 23, 2017 is the biggest jackpot ever won in Massachusetts for any game. At the Pride Station & Shop in Chicopee, that ticket was purchased.