A gas station in the state of New Jersey is glowing right now with an unclaimed Mega Millions jackpot of over half a billion dollars and one of location’s past lottery winners is sharing words of wisdom for the new millionaire.
Pat Matano, who lives in the town of Butler and buys his tickets only at the Lukoil in Riverdale won $200,000 a few years ago and offered sage wisdom.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“Save it, invest it,” Pat Matano told ABC News on Saturday.
Passing six stores to get to the Riverdale location, Matano won big in December 2014, taking home a prize of $200,000 prize, to which he received about $154,000 after taxes.
Matano said the first things that came to mind following the six-figure win was to buy a Jeep and pay off his medical bills from a major surgery. The New Jersey man, who is on disability, said it was good to have the lottery money as a cushion as the winnings “let you live a little more comfortably.”
Another ounce of wisdom shared by Matano for the Mega Millions winner was to “do the right now,” saying, “You’ll have a lot of relatives, a lot of friends coming out.”
While the buyer has not come forward just yet, FOX News reports that the mega jackpot of $521 million can be acquired through the annuity payment option or cash option, with a value at $317 million.
The Lukoil station manager, Nash Riad told the Associated Press that he does not know the identity of the individual.
“The last couple of days we sold a lot of tickets … so I don’t know if it’s a guy, a woman, or who it is,” Riad said. “We sell tickets all the time, all day.”
The $521 million jackpot had not been won in the lottery system for the last two months, with Friday’s drawing marking the fourth time in the history that the goal had exceeded $500 million.
The record for largest jackpot in the history of Mega Millions was $656 million. The prize was won in March 2012 and was split by three separate winners in Kansas, Maryland and Illinois. Mega Millions is played in 44 states, including Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Friday night also saw two tickets sold in Ohio and Texas that matched five white balls to win $1 million each.
