Finally! Chino Hills holder of $528 million Powerball lotto ticket comes forward

Six months after a $1.6 billion Powerball lottery jackpot set records, the holder of the wiing ticket bought at a Chino Hills 7-Eleven has finally come forward.

“Chino Hills HUGE wier finally claims,” a tweet from the Califoia Lottery at 9:03 a.m. Tuesday.

Marvin and Mae Acosta were aounced as the wiers. Their home town was not revealed.

The couple wants “to remain as private as possible,” the tweet says.

The drawing Jan. 13 set off a nationwide frenzy, with ultimately three tickets poised to share the jackpot, or $528.8 million apiece. When word got out that Califoia’s wiing ticket was sold at the 7-Eleven at 4092 Chino Hills Parkway, owned by Balbir Atwal, the store quickly filled with people celebrating the win — but the actual wier was not among them.

The wiing ticket holders from Teessee came forward almost immediately, while the Florida wiers took about a month to reveal themselves.

“We finally know who our mystery wiers are! It may have taken six months for them to come to one of our offices, but these wiers did just what we tell all our wiers to do — they read our Wier’s Handbook and then assembled a team of legal and financial advisers to help them make the most of this windfall and prepare them for their new life as Lottery wiers,” Califoia Lottery Director Hugo Lopez said in a statement.

“We couldn’t be happier for them and are thrilled they took the time to assemble the right team before coming in to claim,” Lopez said.

The couple is refusing all interviews and requests for photographs, according to lottery officials. They did release this statement:

“We are thankful and blessed for the rare gift that has been placed in our care. We have engaged a team of advisers to educate and guide us through this process so that we can be good stewards of these new resources. 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. While we are very grateful for the wonderful wishes and encouragement we’ve received, it is not our intention to become public figures, and we ask for and appreciate privacy going forward. Thank you.”

The Chino Hills wier remained shrouded in mystery for months. Initially, several hoaxters claimed ownership of the golden ticket. Meanwhile, Atwal collected his $1 million for owning the business that sold the ticket, and the clerk who handled the transaction, M. Faroqui, enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame, landing a guest spot on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

According to the Califoia Lottery, the Acostas declined a 30-year auity worth $528.8u2009million before federal taxes, opting for a one-time payment of $327.8 million, like the Teessee and Florida couples did.

Advertisement

Powerball is played in 44 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Unlike the Califoia-only SuperLotto Plus jackpot wiers — who must come forward with their ticket within 180 days of the draw date — Powerball wiers have a year to stake their claim.