In May 2013, Gloria MacKenzie walked into a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Florida, to buy a Powerball ticket. The 84-year-old grandmother never thought that one kind act from a stranger would change her life forever. Another customer waiting in line let her go ahead, and that choice led to the biggest single lottery jackpot win in United States history.
MacKenzie bought a Quick Pick ticket and matched all five numbers plus the Powerball in the May 18 drawing. She won $590.5 million, making it the largest lottery prize ever won by one person at the time. The jackpot was also the second largest in U.S. history, after the $656 million Mega Millions prize split by three winners in March 2012. MacKenzie chose to take the lump sum payment of $370.9 million before taxes, which came to about $278 million after taxes.
The woman who let MacKenzie cut in line was Mindy Crandell. After MacKenzie claimed her prize two weeks later, Crandell told reporters she had no regrets about her choice. “It was a move that could have potentially cost the Crandells the $590.5 million Powerball ticket,” ABC News reported. Crandell’s family and friends had teased her that the old woman would win the jackpot, but she thought there was no way that would happen. When her 10-year-old daughter Mallory saw MacKenzie on television during the press conference, the family realized their joke had come true.
What happened after the big win
MacKenzie did not go to the press conference when lottery officials told everyone she was the winner. Instead, she gave them a statement that said, “While in line at Publix, another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them in line to purchase the winning Quick Pick ticket. We are grateful for this blessing of winning the Florida jackpot.”
In Florida, a woman let 84-year-old Gloria MacKenzie go ahead of her in line to buy Powerball tickets. MacKenzie ended up winning the $590 million jackpot with the ticket she bought. pic.twitter.com/I0PSHCIlfg
— imjustculture (@imjustculture) June 13, 2025
The retired teacher had moved to Florida from East Millinocket, Maine. Before her win, she lived in a small gray duplex. Her neighbors said she was quiet and nice. After winning, she bought a five-bedroom home in a gated golf community in Jacksonville for $1.175 million. She also gave nearly $2 million to Schenck High School in East Millinocket, where she used to teach and where her daughter worked as a biology teacher.
But MacKenzie’s story took a sad turn. In 2019, she took her son Scott and his financial adviser to court. She said they did a bad job managing her money by making poor investments while charging her $2 million in fees.
The lawsuit said her money earned less than 1% returns and that she lost $10 million because of their mistakes. The problem was like other cases where getting rich fast led to money troubles, showing that winning big doesn’t always mean things will turn out well. MacKenzie died in February 2021 at age 92 before the court case ended.
While Crandell’s kind act led to MacKenzie’s big win, the story shows us that life can change when we least expect it. The simple act of letting someone go ahead in line became one of the most famous lottery stories in American history.
