NJ Mega Millions winner may be 'one of our regulars' from North Jersey, but hasn't been identified

• The winning amount has been updated and the new total grew to $533 million
• The cash payout, if the winner chooses to take the lump sum is $324 million. The winner may also choose to accept annual payments over the next 30 years.

RIVERDALE — Who won Friday's Mega Millions jackpot? Ameer Krass says he knows, but he isn't telling.

The winner has yet to come forward. But Krass, who owns the Route 23 Lukoil mini-mart where the winning ticket was sold, says he has reviewed surveillance footage and determined that the winner is a frequent customer.

“I know them, and they are one of our regulars, which is great,” Krass said of the winner. “That’s what we were hoping for."

Two days after New Jersey Lottery officials announced that someone had won the $521 million prize (since upped to $533 million), Krass was presented Monday with a $30,000 check for selling the ticket. He said he plans to award bonuses to his 10 employees and donate some of the money to help build his church.

Even though one of his cashiers said Sunday that the winner was a man from Bloomfield, Krass refused to say Monday who the winner is. He has not tried to contact the lucky ticket holder, he said, and he urged anyone who might know to give the winner "the space they deserve."

Not-so-lucky winners

The winner might do well to lie low for awhile.

After Pedro Quezada, living in Passaic at the time, won a $338 million Powerball jackpot in 2013, he promised to pay his neighbors' rent for a month. But he was later accused of skipping town without paying his, or their, rent.

His troubles only continued. An ex-girlfriend sued him for a portion of the proceeds, and then last year, Quezada — now living in Wayne — was arrested on charges that he sexually assaulted a young girl. The status of those charges could not be determined Monday.

Another winner, David Lee Edwards from Ashland, Kentucky, wound up alone and penniless after winning $27 million.

Life was good for a while: Edwards and his wife spent the prize money on mansions, sports cars and a Learjet, until the money ran out after five years and they began living in a storage unit, according to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times. In his first three months as a millionaire, Edwards spent $3 million, and after a year he had spent $12 million, the New Times reported.

Edwards and his wife contracted hepatitis from their needle drug use, and both were arrested multiple times and charged with possession of crack cocaine, pills and heroin, the New Times said. Edwards died "alone and penniless" in hospice care at age 58 in 2013, just 12 years after the lottery changed his life, reported the Daily Mail.

Largest jackpot in state history

Tom Webber, supervisor of investigations for the New Jersey Lottery, said it is routine procedure to take possession of surveillance video of the customer buying the winning ticket. He said he has not yet received surveillance footage from the Riverdale store.

Lottery tickets are also stamped with the date and time of the sale, MaryAnn Rivell of the New Jersey Lottery said. She cautioned against speculation about the buyer.

"We're always real cautious about that," Rivell said. "Until the ticket is actually validated, they don't have a claim."

John M. White, New Jersey Lottery's acting executive director, said the ticket needs to be validated by the lottery commission before the winnings can be doled out.

“We trust that they will in due time,” he said, noting that it’s been two years since the state's last jackpot close to this size. A family that won $400 million in 2016 took a couple of weeks to claim the prize.

White said that because New Jersey is an Open Public Records state, the lottery commission cannot keep winners anonymous even if they form a trust.

The $533 million prize is the largest in New Jersey lottery history, and it's the 10th-highest in the United States. The winner has the option of taking the cash value — $324 million — or annual payments over 30 years, officials said.

The winning numbers from the March 30 drawing are: 11, 28, 31, 46 and 59. The Gold Mega Ball is 1 and the Megaplier is 3. The long-anticipated hit came after 24 draws and increasing jackpots.

Riverdale Mayor Paul Carelli said it was an exciting day for the borough.

“We’re happy for Ameer. We’re a small town," Carelli said. "It’s our 15 minutes here in Riverdale, and we’re quite happy about it.”

Email: agnish@northjersey.com

Zachary Croce, Leslie Ruse, Keldy Ortiz, and Kaitlyn Kanzler from The Record, and Ashley May from USA Today contributed to this article.

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