Reuters
LOS ANGELES - A couple came forward to claim their $528 million prize from a record-setting Powerball jackpot, more than six months after they bought their winning ticket in Chino Hills, Calif., lottery officials said on Tuesday.
There were three winning tickets in the nearly $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot in January, the largest lottery prize ever offered in North America.
The holders of two of the winning tickets came forward in Tennessee and Florida within about a month of the drawing, but the third share of the winnings in the multi-state lottery had gone unclaimed until Marvin and Mae Acosta stepped forward.
California Lottery Director Hugo Lopez said the couple, who bought their ticket at a Chino Hills 7-Eleven convenience store less than 50 miles east of Los Angeles, had followed advice by taking their time to assemble a team of legal and financial advisers.
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The Acostas have opted to take the cash option of $327.8 million, instead of the higher prize of $528 million that would have been paid out in 30 annual installments, lottery officials said.
California lottery officials did not release details about the winning couple, including where they live or their ages.
"While many decisions are still to be made, we have committed nearly all of this new resource to a trust and to charities that are important to us," the Acostas said in a statement provided by lottery officials.
