Jackpot Victory Leads to Early Retirement for School Bus Driver
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A school bus driver, James Keown, has made a life-changing decision after winning a lottery jackpot. Keown has been faithfully serving the Jefferson County Public Schools for over a decade. However, he has now decided to step away from his job and enjoy a well-deserved break.
Keown’s incredible stroke of luck came from a Kentucky Lottery Powerball ticket, where he managed to match four white ball numbers. As a result, he secured an impressive prize of $50,000. But the surprises did not end there. Keown was able to double his winnings with the Power Play feature.
"I had to check it multiple times… I thought the number must be wrong, but it wasn’t," Keown said with excitement. "At first, I saw that I won $50,000, but then I remembered that I always play the multiplier. So, I checked again, and it was indeed multiplied by two."
Without hesitation, Keown swiftly took the necessary steps to shape his immediate future. "I called my boss on Sunday, and I informed him that I had won the lottery and would not be returning to work," Keown revealed. "I loved my job, but retirement had been on my mind for a while now."
His wife, Monta, shared her joy for his well-deserved win. She expressed her happiness about how it will positively impact their lives. Due to taxes, James will not receive the full $100,000 prize. Instead, he will receive $71,500. Nevertheless, his intentions to support local cat rescue shelters with the money have not wavered. Additionally, he plans to fulfill a lifelong dream of buying a lake property and enjoying the days ahead.
As a bonus, the Circle K store that sold James the lucky ticket will receive a 1% prize of $1,000.
However, if you think that’s a substantial tax reduction, wait until you hear about the staggering amount the winner of the $1.08 billion jackpot in July faced.
The winning ticket was sold at the Las Palmitas Mini Market in Southern California. The lucky winner had two options: either receive the total jackpot of $1.08 billion distributed over 30 annual payments or opt for the more popular choice – a lump sum of $558.1 million. Choosing the lump sum option means encountering a mandatory federal tax withholding of 24%, leaving $424.15 million. Furthermore, dependent on the winner’s taxable income, this amount could drop to as low as $351.6 million.
For those who choose to receive annual payments (equating to around $36 million), with the 47% federal marginal rate, this figure could decrease to $22.68 million.
