March 04, 2019 - 3:41 PM
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Latest on the $1.5 billion Mega Millions lottery (all times local):
6:30 p.m.
The owner of a convenience store that sold the winning ticket in the $1.5 billion Mega Millions lottery says it's "exciting" that a winner has finally come forward to claim the prize.
The South Carolina lottery said Monday that the winner had claimed October's jackpot but elected to remain anonymous.
The winner took the cash option, a one-time payment of nearly $878,000,000. Lottery officials said that's the largest jackpot payout to a single winner in U.S. history.
Chirag Patel, who owns the KC Mart in Simpsonville, says it's good for whoever won and good for him. That's because he'll get $50,000 as a commission for selling the winning ticket.
He'll spend the money on renovations he's already made to that store and to other convenience stores he owns.
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4 p.m.
The South Carolina lottery says a single winner has stepped forward to claim the $1.5 billion Jackpot from a drawing last October.
A lottery commission statement says the person submitting the claim for what was the second-largest lottery in U.S. history has chosen to remain anonymous.
It adds that the winner has chosen the cash option, a one-time payment of nearly $878,000,000. It says that's the largest jackpot payout to a single winner in United States history.
The winning ticket was sold between Oct. 20 and Oct. 23 last year at a convenience store in Simpsonville, a suburb of the South Carolina city of Greenville.
For months, South Carolina residents had speculated on why the winner hadn't stepped forward. The winner had until April 19 to claim the prize.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019