Another Powerball player let 84-year-old Gloria Mackenzie jump the line – and she won the second largest US lottery jackpot.
Mackenzie waited more than two weeks since the May 18 drawing to claim her $590.5 million jackpot that she won with a $2 ticket at a suburban Tampa, Fla. supermarket.
But she left Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee quickly this morning, in a silver Ford Focus with her son and family friends, and dodged a press conference to announced her win. She left a statement explaining her good fortune.
“While in line at Publix (supermarket), another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them in line to purchase the winning quick-pick ticket,” she said.
She told Lottery officials she and her son Scott had agreed to split any prize. They had bought four other tickets for the drawing before they lucked out with the winning, computer-chosen numbers.
Mackenzie indicated she will try to keep a low profile. “We are grateful with this blessing of winning the Florida Lottery Powerball jackpot,” her statement, read by a Lottery official, said. “We appreciate the interest from the public, state of Florida and the lottery. We hope that everyone would give us the opportunity to maintain our privacy for our family’s benefit.”
Mackenzie chose the lump sum of $370 million, which Florida officials said would be worth about $270 million after taxes.
Neighbors at her modest Zephyrhills, Fla. duplex said she didn’t let on she’d won – but she usually keeps to herself. “She didn’t say anything about it,” said neighbor James Hill. “She’s so quiet and secluded.”
Her house, which is located among mobile homes and pr-fab houses, back up into a dirt alley and is across from a cow pasture.
“I hope she gets a better place to live,” joked another neighbor, Don Cecil.