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$1.348 billion. Mega Millions, January 2023
A ticket from a Maine general store, and a winner who used a trust.
$723.5mCash option.
Won on a ticket sold at Hometown Gas & Grill in Lebanon, Maine, population roughly six thousand. The store's owner said he had to look up what the retailer bonus even was.
The winner claimed through a limited liability company, which is the standard move where the law allows it: the entity collects the prize and appears on the paperwork, and the person behind it does not.
Maine changed its disclosure law in 2022 to allow exactly this for prizes over a million. The timing was lucky for whoever bought the ticket.
The shop took its bonus and its owner told reporters he intended to keep working. That is the commonest retailer response on record, and the least reported: a one-off payment of a few tens of thousands is transformative for a small business and changes nothing about whether it opens on Monday.