A 53-year-old Massachusetts mother of two who scooped the largest single jackpot in US history -- $758.7 million -- said it was a dream come true Thursday and immediately quit her hospital job of 32 years.
Mavis Wanczyk said she had played the lottery as a "pipe dream," never believing that it would one day be possible for her to retire early from the Mercy Medical Center, where she worked in patient care.
On Thursday that dream came true.
"I've called them and told them I will not be coming back," she said to laughter at a news conference hosted by the Massachusetts State Lottery.
"I'm going to go hide in my bed!" she added when asked how she planned to celebrate, wearing black-framed glasses, a zip-up hooded black sweater over a grey lace top, necklace, and shoulder-length thick auburn hair.
Wanczyk selected the winning numbers -- which included family birthdays -- and bought the ticket from a convenience store in Chicopee, a small town 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Boston, calling it "a chance I had to take."
The winning numbers were 6, 7, 16, 23 and 26, from five white balls, and 4 as the so-called Powerball number on a red ball.
The retailer that sold the winning ticket is to receive $50,000, which he has committed to local charities.
Wanczyk now has the choice of taking the jackpot as an annuity spread over 30 years or a one-off cash lump sum -- reportedly $336 million after taxes
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