Powerball winner Mavis L. Wanczyk nervously chewed gum Thursday as she was introduced to the media while claiming the richest single-ticket jackpot in lottery history of $758 million and change.
Wanczyk, 53, of Chicopee, Massachusetts, said a news conference that she was still coming to grips with winning the huge prize.
Lottery officials said Wanczyk chose to take a one-time lump sum payment of $480.5 million, which is $336.3 million after taxes.
"It's never going to be me," said Wanczyk, who beat the 292.2 million-to-1 odds to capture the jackpot, per Fox News. "It's just a pipe dream that I've always had."
As for her job at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield that she held for 32 years, Wanczyk told the news conference she is now retired.
"I've called them and told them I will not be coming back," Wanczyk said, flanked by her mother and two sisters, per the Boston Herald. "I'm scared but I'll be okay."
Lottery officials said Wanczyk purchased five tickets, three with numbers that she selected and two Quic Pics, at the Pride Station & Store in Chicopee. She said the winning combination was one of the sets of numbers that she selected herself using family birthdates (6, 7, 16, 23 and 26) and her lucky number 4 as the Powerball.
"I was just there to buy a scratch ticket and say, 'Maybe it'll be me and maybe it won't be me,'" Wanczyk said, per the Herald. "It was a chance — a chance I had to take."
Wanczyk, who said she just plans on relaxing for now, said she wanted to come forward now instead of waiting weeks and months like other big lottery winners have done in the past, WBZ-TV said.
"I just wanted to do this, I just wanted to get it over and done with and then everybody will just leave me alone," Wanczyk said.
Massachusetts lottery officials erroneously announced originally that the winning ticket had been sold in Watertown, the Herald said.
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