Florida Trust Claims Share of Record Powerball Jackpot
Wednesday February 17th 2016A Florida trust has claimed its $528.7 million share of the record-breaking $1.58 billion Powerball jackpot from January 13th. Maureen Smith, trustee of the Nickel 95 Trust, met Florida Lottery officials at headquarters in Tallahassee today to pick up a check for the cash lump sum option of $327.8 million before taxes.
Smith, 70 and of Melbourne Beach, said she often shopped at the Publix store in the town at which she bought the winning ticket. She revealed that she played her regular numbers in the big money drawing and discovered her good fortune the next morning, keeping the news a secret for a month before presenting her ticket to officials.
Collecting the prize alongside Smith was David Kaltschmidt, 55, who admitted that not even their families knew of the win until last week. He now plans to retire from his manufacturing engineer job at Northrop Grumman Corp.
Tom Delacenserie, secretary of the state lottery said “we congratulate Florida's newest jackpot winner, and recognize how this Powerball jackpot will not only change their life but allowed the Lottery to generate more money for education from a single jackpot than ever before, with more than $114 million raised for Florida students and schools."
John and Lisa Robertson of Tennessee claimed their share of the big money prize within days of the drawing, leaving one unclaimed jackpot winning ticket, which was bought in Chino Hills, California.
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