On Friday the largest single lottery jackpot in state history was won in New Jersey. The lucky winner was a production manager in a food services company. He won a $533 million lottery jackpot. He opted for a lump sum of $324.6 million, which means that after taxes he’s taking home $220.7 million.
While it’s always a little bit weird to see how $533 suddenly turns into $220 million, if you check the details, it’s all pretty straightforward. And the main thing, in all honesty, $220 million is a huge amount one way or another.
The winner of this Mega Millions jackpot said he found out he had won late at night, and after checking the numbers around 15 times, he was ready to share the information with the rest of the family. He said that “It was truly amazing. Some of my family members were sleeping so I didn’t go and scream out. I walked upstairs. I saw my wife and said, ‘Baby, we get to go on vacation.’ She said, ‘What are you talking about? Don’t be an idiot.'”
It’s always nice to hear about people coming into so-said surprise money, be it winning with a lottery or achieving that in any other possible way. But if you choose to play lottery online, and actually manage to win big, be sure to smart about it, be sure to share the wealth, yet not so much that you end up hurting yourself; be good, don’t change yourself, and mainly remember that money doesn’t make anyone better than the rest of the crowds.