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$1.326 billion. Powerball, April 2024
An Oregon ticket, and a winner whose immigration status became national news.
$621mCash option.
Won on a ticket bought at a Plaid Pantry in Portland. The jackpot had rolled for more than three months.
The winner, Cheng Saephan, came forward at a press conference and said he had been undergoing cancer treatment. He had bought the ticket with a friend, and split the prize with them and with his wife.
Oregon does not allow anonymity, so the details went everywhere, including his immigration history, which became a talking point he had not asked for. The lack of a privacy option in your state is not an abstract legal detail; it is the difference between a private windfall and a news cycle about you.