An Iraqi man has won a $6.4 million Oregon Lottery jackpot by purchasing a ticket through an online agent. According to information provided by the Oregon Lottery spokesman Chuck Bauman, the man will receive the Megabucks jackpot in 25 annual instalments of $256,000 minus taxes.
Even though the winner bought the ticket online, on Wednesday he showed up at the Oregon Lottery offices holding the actual winning ticket. It was revealed that the ticket was purchased from Thelotter.com, an Israeli online retail that resells tickets from various lotteries worldwide. Many wondered why the person that bought the ticket for the Iraqi player decided to hand it over instead of cashing it; however, the site obviously has a good working policy that prevents such scenarios.
A representative of Thelotter.com had purchased the winning ticket back in August from a deli in Bend called Binky’s, revealed Bauman. He further explained that the Lottery’s rules didn’t prohibit third parties from reselling tickets to players from other countries since the organisation didn’t have its own online selling system.
The winning numbers that earned the Iraqi man $6.4 million were 15, 27, 32, 44 and 45. When he was asked how he chose exactly those number the man covered his eyes and then poked in the air, Bauman said.
Despite the fact that Oregon Lottery doesn’t let winners stay anonymous in order to avoid scam rumours, the winner from Iraq was allowed to keep his identity a secret. However, there is a good reason to do so since winning such a large sum of money would put him and his family in danger in his homeland.