US-based Guyanese Aubrey Boyce has won New York’s second-largest lottery jackpot, the US$133 million Mega Millions Lottery and received a cheque of US$55 million, his lump sum less taxes on Tuesday.
According to the New York Times, Boyce a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) worker, did his best to be as unobtrusive as possible.
The Times said the 49-year-old wore sunglasses and would only reveal that he was married with no children and had been born “somewhere in South America”. The resident of Kew Gardens, Queens, spent US$2 — letting the lottery computer pick his numbers, “Quick Pick”-style — for his ticket on July 7. Though he said he would usually spend about US$12 per week on lottery tickets.
As the cameras flashed on the makeshift stage on a balcony inside Grand Central Terminal, Boyce did his best to make his debut as a millionaire as short and sweet as he could, the report said. He did not announce any major plans, except that he would probably go fishing somewhere warm.
Boyce’s initial reaction when he suspected he had won was to be expected: He was in shock. He checked his numbers — 25, 27, 35, 38, 39, and the Mega Ball, 28 — twice against the numbers on television, again on the Internet, and the next day at the nearest convenience store. His wife’s reaction was nothing out of the ordinary, either. “She thought I was making it up,” he told the Times.
He subsequently consulted with a lawyer and took a decision to take a lump sum payment. He has installed himself as the trustee of a fund he created, the Archibald Trust, which was the listed payee on the cheque and refused to disclose the origins of the name, the report said.