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This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.

KPCC Archive

Chino Hills couple claims $528 million Powerball jackpot

A customer picks up her California Powerball lottery tickets at the famous Bluebird Liquor store which is considered to be a lucky retailer of tickets, in Hawthorne, California on January 13, 2016. Record sales drove up the largest jackpot in US history to a whopping $1.5 billion as people dreaming of riches flocked across state lines and international borders to buy tickets. / AFP / MARK RALSTON        (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
File: A customer picks up her California Powerball lottery tickets at the famous Bluebird Liquor store which is considered to be a lucky retailer of tickets, in Hawthorne, California on January 13, 2016.
(
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
)

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Remember the record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot that had everybody participating in the office lottery pool?

Marvin and Mae Acosta do.

The Chino Hills couple just came out as the missing winners of the unclaimed $528 million jackpot split among three winning tickets in January.

"The winners of the $528 million jackpot that recently came forward were actually very savvy," California Lottery spokeswoman Cathy Johnston told KPCC. "They enlisted a group of people to help them manage their money and manage this new life."

That group of people provided financial and legal counsel, which helped the couple get organized ahead of claiming their prize. The couple chose to take the cash prize of $327.8 million before federal taxes.

"With a prize this big, it's not surprising they took their time to come in," Johnston said.

Johnston said that the Acostas took the time to read the lottery winner's handbook, which explains the basics of becoming a multimillionaire overnight.

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"While many decisions are still to be made, we have committed nearly all of this new resource to a Trust and to charities that are important to us," the Acostas said in a written statement from the California Lottery.

The winning ticket came from a Chino Hills 7-Eleven store, which received its maximum $1 million prize in January for selling a Powerball winner. The other two winning tickets of Powerball's record-setting jackpot hailed from Florida and Tennessee.

The Acostas declined any media interviews, stating that they do not intend to become public figures.

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