3 Maryland school employees among Mega Millions winners
3 Md. ticketholders school employees; Ill. share unclaimed
Trio chose to remain unidentified, as did winner in Kansas; prize in Illinois not yet claimed.
The winners of the record-breaking Mega Millions jackpot are turning up one-by-one, but the guessing game over just who the new multimillionaires are goes on.
The owners of the ticket bought in Maryland came forward Monday and turned out to be two public school teachers and an administrative employee. The trio — a man in his 40s, a woman in her 20s and a woman in her 50s calling themselves “The Three Amigos” — chose to be unidentified. They said they plan to keep working.
They were photographed with their faces covered by a large check for $218.6 million, their portion of the $656 million jackpot. Their hands and arms were covered by gloves and long sleeves.
“They were modest and humbled,” Maryland Lottery Director Stephen Martino said Tuesday. “These are precisely the people you would want to see win the lottery.”
Winning tickets were also sold in Kansas and Illinois. The Kansas ticketholder chose to keep his identity secret. Most states don’t allow that.
In Illinois, no one has claimed the prize. Illinois Lottery Superintendent Michael Jones said identifying winners ensures the process is open and shows winners are chosen randomly.
Staying anonymous is smart, said Andrew Stoltmann, an attorney who has worked with lottery winners. Those who don’t “have to change your phone number, maybe even get a new address, and get your team in place and prepare for an all-out avalanche of long-lost relatives, quoteunquote friends, charities and others beating down the door,” he said.
A news conference “is the worst thing people can do,” Stoltmann said. “It’s one thing to have your name released, it’s another to have a press conference and have people see your face and hear you speak and know exactly what you look like.”
Even without one, he said “it’s almost impossible to be anonymous now once your name is out there, given Facebook, Twitter, online photos and your digital footprint.”