The Jan. 13 Mega Millions winners of the $1.35 billion jackpot are out in Maine, but they're using a newly formed limited liability company (LLC) to limit their public exposure.

 

Hometown Gas & Grill owner Fred Cotreau poses for a photo after his Mobil gas station sold a $1.35 billion Mega Millions lottery ticket in January 2023. The lucky winner claimed his or her winnings this week through an LLC.

 

The January 2023 drawing marks the fourth time in Millionaire's history that the jackpot will exceed $1 billion. The $1.35 billion jackpot is the second-largest jackpot in Millionaire history, behind only the $1.537 billion won by one lucky winner in South Carolina in October 2018.

 

The Mega Millions Consortium, which operates the popular lottery product on behalf of its 47 participating territories (45 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands), said its January jackpot winner came out today in Maine. The winner elected to receive a lump sum of $723,564,144 in pre-tax cash.

 

The federal government would take a 37 percent cut, and then Maine would impose one of the highest taxes on lottery winnings in the nation at 7.15 percent. Net expenses were approximately $404.1 million.

 

The winning numbers were 30-43-45-46-61 and the Gold Mega Ball was 14. The odds of a ticket matching the six winning numbers are only 1 in 302,575,350. In percentage terms, this looks like a 0.00000000000003% probability.

 

Mathematicians say this is roughly equivalent to flipping a coin 28 times in a row and landing heads. Scientists say you're about 300 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to win the Mega Millions jackpot, though luckily for the former, those odds are pretty high, too.

 

Winners use investment vehicles

Maine is not one of 11 states that allow lottery winners to claim their prize while remaining anonymous. Most lottery states say mandating winner identification ensures public confidence in the integrity of games and results.

 

While some states do require the winner's legal name to be released, others (including Maine) allow the winner to collect the windfall through trusts and other investment vehicles.

 

That's the route the $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot winner has chosen. The Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverage and Lottery Operations said the winner received a one-time cash payment through a limited liability company called "LaKoma Island Investments."

 

The winning ticket was sold at a Hometown Gas & Grill convenience store in Lebanon. The gas station was awarded $50,000 from the Mega Millions Consortium for selling a jackpot ticket.

 

Biggest lottery jackpots in US history

 

$2.04B - Powerball - November 7, 2022

$1.586B — Powerball — January 13, 2016

$1.537B — Millionaire — October 23, 2018

$1.35B - Mega Millions - January 13, 2023

$1.337B - Millionaire - July 29, 2022

While the number 13 is not traditionally considered lucky, January 13th appears to be a lucky day for lottery players. Along with January 13, 2023, a 10-figure jackpot was won on January 13, 2016, which is when the second-biggest Powerball prize was won.

 

The owners and/or principal officers of LLCs in most states are part of the public records. Casino.org searched the Maine Secretary of State's online corporate database, but LaKoma Island Investments found no listed entities.

 

The Maine Bureau of Corporations website states that it is currently facing a filing backlog, with newly incorporated companies taking up to 35 business days to process. Once LaKoma is administered and included in the database, the LLC's officers or registered agents (usually an attorney or financial advisor) will become public knowledge.