The Maine State Lottery says a winner in January's Mega Millions game has claimed the prize, although the identity of the winner remains unknown.
State Lottery official Michael Bordman says a representative of the winner, LaKoma Island Investments LLC, came to lottery headquarters last Friday with the winning ticket.
They "opted to take the one lump-sum payment amount which was roughly $723 million. There's state and federal withholding tax that we're required to withhold and then we will wire the balance of that, which is roughly $498 million, to the account that they provided to us to be wired to," Boardman says.
Boardman admitted he likes to meet excited winners, but understands this was an exceptional case. Still, Boardman says lottery officials always like to see people handling their winnings responsibly, and he says he wishes the winner well.
