Newport Man Wins $81-Million Lottery

A 25-year-old Newport Beach man was identified Tuesday as the sole winner of last Wednesday’s $81-million lottery jackpot.

Colin McLean, who identified himself as a college graduate who works in the finance industry, said he planned to use some of the winnings to help victims of last month’s tsunami.

“With everything going on in the world, I think it is inappropriate to gain notoriety for this [winning the Lottery]; I feel very blessed, and sense that God has given me an opportunity that very few people receive,” McLean wrote in a statement released by his lawyer.

McLean will receive 26 annual payments of $2.025 million. The retailer will receive $405,000 for selling the winning ticket.

McLean bought the winning Super Lotto Plus ticket at a 7-Eleven in Orange.

McLean wrote that he didn’t realize that he had won until Friday because he had been busy. He said that when he realized he had won, “I about fell over.”

McLean said he went to the Santa Ana lottery office late Friday and was “disappointed” to find that the staff wasn’t able to process his claim because they were preparing for the holiday weekend.

He said he rented a safe deposit box to store his ticket over the long weekend, which he spent researching his financial alternatives.

As for returning to work? McLean said he hadn’t decided.