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Puerto Rico Powerball Winner Claims Prize, Chooses To Stay Anonymous

Puerto Rico's Powerball winner presented one of three winning tickets to last week's $564 million jackpot, island lottery officials said on Thursday.
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This Sept. 23, 2014 photo, shows an aerial view of the Santurce neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The area had deteriorated in the 1970s as people moved out to suburbs near San Juan. Many who stayed behind were immigrants, mostly from the Dominican Republic and often living in large blocks of public housing dominated by drug gangs amid surging crime in the 1990s. Now a new generation of young islanders are reinvesting in the area. Ricardo Arduengo / AP

Puerto Rico's Powerball winner presented one of three winning tickets to last week's $564 million jackpot, island lottery officials said on Thursday.

But the lucky island resident, who will share the prize with the Texas and North Carolina winners, has chosen to remain anonymous.

The lucky person, who bought the ticket at a Shell station in Ponce, Puerto Rico, is not a resident of that southern city, according to Puerto Rico Lottery officials.

The winner has 60 days to decide if he or she wants a lump sum of $101 million or 30 payments over 30 years.

"For those who doubted that this prize could be won on the island, this is proof that the possibilities are real," said the Assistant Secretary to the Puerto Rico lottery.

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