Jackpot winner's name released
PHOENIX — The second winner of the $587.5 million Powerball jackpot is a 37-year-old electronics industry professional who grew up in a modest home in Pennsylvania and moved to an affluent Phoenix suburb last year before striking it rich in the lotto.
The winner is Matthew Good of Fountain Hills, who chose to remain anonymous after claiming the prize last week. Lottery winners in Arizona are a matter of public record, and The Associated Press filed a public records request to learn his name.
Good took the one-time payout of $192 million from the Nov. 28 drawing, telling lottery officials the looming fiscal cliff was the reason he claimed the winnings now and not in the next calendar year. He had 180 days to claim his share of the jackpot.
Good grew up on a working-class block in Wormleysburg, Pa., near Harrisburg. His stepmother, Charlotte Good, said in an interview with the AP that Good was “a typical kid” who has always worked hard. She said he waited until Saturday to phone his father Ray with the news.
“My husband, he just can’t get over it,” said Charlotte Good, 63, a retired state Revenue Department employee. “It’s his son.”
He told his father “they’re out of sight and they would contact him,” she said.
Good bought $10 worth of tickets and kept the winner in the visor of his car overnight before realizing he was an instant millionaire.
After Good and his wife learned of their good fortune, he pulled together a team of financial advisers and decided to take his share this month to avoid potentially higher taxes in 2013.
Lottery officials said Good’s wife owns half the prize because Arizona is a community property state.