A Florida woman has claimed a $590 million jackpot, state lottery officials announced at a press conference Wednesday.
Gloria C. Mackenzie, 84, bought the winning ticket for the May 18 drawing, which was the largest jackpot ever in the multi-state lottery's history. Mackenzie did not appear at the news conference.
Florida ABC affiliate WFTS reported that a woman claiming to have won the multimillion dollar jackpot reported to the state's lottery headquarters around noon on Wednesday.
Mackenzie, a resident of Zephyrhills, Fla., had agreed to split the winnings with her son, Scott. Mackenzie released a statement that was read at the state lottery news conference.
"While in line at Publix, another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them in line to purchase the winning Quick Pick ticket," Mackenzie said in the statement. "We are grateful for this blessing of winning the Florida Lottery Powerball jackpot and appreciate the interest of the public, the State of Florida and the lottery."
The $590 million jackpot, which was purchased at a Publix Supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla., remained unclaimed for more than two weeks.
Prior to the announcement, the town of about 13,000 residents was abuzz with speculation about who the winner might be. Under Florida law, the winner of the lottery cannot remain anonymous.
"Being in a small town, everybody knows everybody and in some cases, everybody's business," Dave Walters, a reporter for the Zephyrhills News community newspaper, told the Associated Press. "It's hard to keep a secret in this town, but this is one of the biggest mysteries we've had in a long, long time."
In November 2012, a $587 million prize was split between two winning tickets.
This story has been updated to include Gloria Mackenzie's statement.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misspelled the town of which Mackenzie is a resident. It is Zephyrhills, Fla.
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