A couple from Simi Valley, California, has stepped forward to claim last month's $13 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot.
According to a recent press release, Chris and Sharon Padavick visited the California Lottery's Van Nuys district office on Monday, November 3, and opted to take their prize as a one-off, lump-sum payment of $8.4 million, before taxes.
The couple won their life-changing prize when their ticket matched all five of the main numbers drawn, plus the Powerball, in the California SuperLotto Plus drawing held on Saturday, October 18, 2014, but when Chris received a text alert from the lottery he paid it no heed.
"I ignored the first one," Chris admitted. "I deleted it."
Next to come was an email alert that stated the name of the store that sold the winning ticket. Chris took the email more seriously and asked Sharon to check the ticket. She did so at once, but when she went online and saw all the numbers line up it was hard for her to keep her composure.
"I started shaking more and more," Sharon recalled. "It actually took a few days to process it all. It felt surreal—out-of-body."
Chris and Sharon kept a tight lid on the news and took advice from an attorney before they began letting their nearest and dearest in on their secret.
"We’re very conservative in our whole process," Chris said. "We started lining up our ducks on how much to invest, play with, getting ahold of an accountant and all of that."
When asked what plans they'd made for the money the couple said they intend to pay off bills, clear their children's student loans, and lay some money aside for retirement.
