A retired computer analyst who bought one of three winning tickets in the record $656 million Mega Millions jackpot smiled for the cameras as he was handed a massive cheque.
Merle Butler -- who will share the $218.6 million winnings with his wife Patricia -- was the only winner required to go public in order to claim the prize after buying his ticket in Red Bud, Illinois.
Butler, 65, said he found out almost immediately that he'd won after watching for the numbers on the evening news and was then too excited to sleep until morning.
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"I turned to my wife and I said 'we won' and she kind of looked at me funny and I said no -- 'we won' and she started giggling and she giggled for about four hours I think," Butler told reporters as Patricia, 62, laughed behind him.
The couple took the ticket to their bank first thing in the morning after picking over a breakfast they could barely eat. The teller jokingly asked if they'd won when they asked to access their safety deposit box.
"I said yeah, I won this thing and just laughed it off," Butler told reporters with a grin. "And she doesn't know until right now that I really had that ticket in there."
His appearance caps weeks of excitement and anticipation after the ballooning jackpot -- the biggest in world history -- prompted a lotto buying frenzy.
Some $1.5 billion in tickets were sold after the game, played in 42 states, which rolled over 18 times without a winner.
Three winning tickets were sold in the March 30 drawing, but it took a week for the first winner -- a regular lottery player who decided to remain anonymous -- to come forward in Kansas.
Three public school employees in Maryland -- who call themselves the "Three Amigos" and also decided to remain anonymous -- claimed their prize on April 10.
State lottery officials in Illinois require multi-million dollar winners to go public at a press conference to collect their winnings. The goal is to "assure other players that prizes are paid to winners."
The Butlers opted for a one-time cash payment of $158 million instead of 26 annual payments totaling $218.6 million. They will receive $110,517,449 after taxes, lottery officials said.
Butler -- an unassuming man with grey hair and a smile that crinkled his eyes -- said they're not sure what they'll do with the winnings.
"The things we started doing first is instead of thinking about what we'll spend it on we've been thinking of ways we can invest it and use it," he said.
A vacation will be in order once they finish sorting out their financial plans, but the Butlers have no plans for big changes or to leave the small town near St. Louis.
"We know everybody in Red Bud. It's 3,700 (people.) It's a nice, comfortable, family-oriented community," he said. "We really enjoy living here. We've lived here a long time."
Butler said he waited three weeks after the draw to step forward because he and his wife wanted to take time to line up legal and financial advice.
They were also happy to bring some publicity to a town best known for being near a state prison.
Red Bud was abuzz with rumors about who had bought the ticket, but the Butlers managed to keep it a secret from everyone except five people -- close family and friends.
"People kept asking me if I won it and I mostly laughed it off and said 'yeah, sure' and let it go at that," Butler said.
"I've answered most of the time truthfully that yes I, did but they didn't catch it."
Patricia, a retired program analyst who was dressed in a green cardigan and a simple chain over a white shirt, had little to say.
"It was very exciting," she told reporters before stepping back from the microphone and letting her husband do the talking.
