Florida's $1.5 Billion Powerball Winners Step Forward

By PAIGE MCATEE (Patch Staff)

The secret’s out. Two Long Island natives who now reside in Florida didn’t tell anyone about winning the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot for an entire month before claiming their $528.7 million prize on Wednesday, the Florida Lottery announced.

David Kaltschmidt, 55, and Maureen Smith, 70, of Melbourne Beach, Fla., claimed their one-third share of the jackpot and chose to receive a one-time, lump sum payment of $327.8 million.

Kaltschmidt and Smith, who married in 1980, kept their Powerball win a secret from everyone, including family members and coworkers, the New York Daily Newsreports.

The couple, originally from Central Islip, have been living in Florida since 1990 in a home that’s valued at around $300,000, according to Heavy.

Smith has been playing the same Lottery numbers for years and bought the winning ticket at her local supermarket Publix, located at 3830 Highway A1A in Melbourne Beach.

The couple did not watch the drawing live and found out they won the next morning. The winning numbers from the Jan. 13 drawing were 4-8-19-27-34 and the Powerball was 10.

When Smith showed Kaltschmidt the winning numbers, he didn’t believe her at first, she recalled at Wednesday’s press conference that was posted by Fox 10 Phoenix.

At the press conference, Smith said winning the jackpot was “very stressful” and she isn’t entirely sure what they will do with the money. The couple said they lost a lot of sleep after their win and Kaltschmidt admitted to losing 10 pounds due to stress.

“We’re no longer in a quiet place, which I’m going to miss,” Smith said at the press conference.

When asked if they have children, the couple agreed that they would “rather not talk about it.” Watch Fox 10 Phoenix’s press conference video here.

After their win, Kaltschmidt and Smith say they are going to go back to their everyday lives, according to the Daily News.

The only difference is Kaltschmidt plans to retire from his engineering job and buy a new truck, the Daily News reports. Oh, and Smith wants a massage.

Kaltschmidt’s Linkedin page says he works as a Manufacturing Engineer 4 at Northrop Grumman Corporation while Smith has worked as a homemaker since 1980.

They decided to take the lump sum because of Smith’s age, according to Heavy.

What’s next for the couple? They plan on giving back by working with charities.

“Instead of designing airplanes, I’m going to be doing charities and tax strategies and investments,” Kaltschmidt said, according to Heavy.

The couple is sharing their Powerball money with two other winners. A Tennessee family was the first confirmed jackpot winner and the California Lottery said a jackpot-winning ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills. The California winner has yet to come forward.

The Long Island couple apparently did the right thing by waiting to claim their prize. Experts say that if you win the lottery, you shouldn’t reveal yourself right away, and instead take time to assemble your team of financial advisors and let the hype die down.

The odds of winning the big prize are 1 in 292,201,338, according to MarketWatch. Comparatively, the chances of being struck by lightning in any given year are 1 in 700,000.

Image via Florida Lottery on Facebook