Indiana's new Mega Millions jackpot winner remains a mystery

No one believed it at first. The Hamilton County family of four thought it was a joke, a prank — or a setup.

Winning $536 million seemed unfathomable.

Until now.

The Hoosier Lottery held a news conference Friday to announce the jackpot winners of the July 8 drawing — sort of.

The winners did not attend, but Lauren Littlefield, a representative for the family, said the money would go to the Warren LLC, a limited liability corporation.

"This was intentionally set up as a way for them to stay out of the public eye,” Littlefield said.

The $536 million jackpot is the third largest in the history of the game. The family decided to take cash option and received $378 million. After taxes they brought home $271 million, Hoosier Lottery representatives said Friday.

“When I said they have Hoosier values — they want to stay in Indiana and they have no intention to leave — I mean every single word of that,” Littlefield said. "They are just really good people."

Littlefield would not give the family's name, where they live in Hamilton County or what they do.

The family bought the tickets at a Speedway gas station in Cambridge City on their way to a youth sporting event.

They had no idea they had won until a few days later. The winning ticket  was a computer generated "Quick Pick," Littlefield said.

It was the first time the family had played the Mega Millions game, she said.

A few days later, they took the ticket to the Hoosier Lottery office in Downtown Indianapolis and confirmed it was the winner.

On Friday, Littlefield described the family's trip to the lottery office.

"One person (a lottery official) went into the room, then another person went into the room, another person came into the room," Littlefield said. "They felt like this was probably substantial, but they had no idea what that would actually look like."

The family paid $1 for the winning ticket. Mega Millions drawings are held twice a week in Indiana. The game is played in 44 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Financial advisers will help the family manage their prize. They are being cautious, Littlefield emphasized.

In recent years, a handful of big jackpot winners have remained anonymous in Indiana. Those include winners of a 2012 Hoosier Lotto prize worth $34.5 million and a 2008 Powerball jackpot worth $57.6 million. The winners in those cases also set up corporations to collect the money.

Indiana could have another big winner as early as Saturday. The Powerball jackpot is $478 million.

Call IndyStar reporter Cara Anthony at (317) 444-6049. Follow her on Twitter: @CaraRAnthony.