Mays Landing Couple Claim $30 Million Lottery Prize

The Mays Landing couple who bought the country's only winning ticket for the May 31st Mega-Millions Lottery finally came forward to claim their prize .  Just don't tell anybody, OK?

After waiting almost two months to come forward, Daryl and Judith Smith of Mays Landing finally validated their winning ticket at New Jersey Lottery headquarters in Trenton yesterday.

The Smiths bought the winning ticket at the Vineland Truck Stop on Harding Highway.  The couple chose to take the lump sum jackpot, about $20 million after taxes.

The New Jersey Lottery has been looking for the jackpot winners ever since the winning numbers were chosen, even holding a press conference last month at the Buena truck-stop where the ticket was sold, hoping the attention might draw the winners out.

The couple, who asked that no pictures be taken while claiming their winnings, made only this brief statement. " We are thankful for the blessing and the opportunities that it opens up for us. We would greatly appreciate that our privacy be respected."

So, the Smiths, if that's really their name, are millionaires, and seem only too aware of how that can change people. Does that mean  if we were thinking of asking them for a loan, we should think again? Probably. Here's wishing them the good life, with little of the negative impact of their new riches.