A man who lives in Iraqi man has won the $6.4 million jackpot in a lottery conducted by the U.S. state of Oregon.
The man claimed the prize on December 1 at lottery headquarters in Salem, Oregon, three months after winning, said Chuck Baumann, the Oregon Lottery spokesman.
The man, whose name was not released, chose to take his millions in 25 annual installments of $256,000, minus taxes.
Though lottery rules generally prohibit winners from remaining anonymous, state officials honored the man's request to keep his identity secret because of concerns about his safety in Iraq.
"He made it very clear that the amount of money he had won here would certainly put him and his family in harm's way," Baumann said.
The winner bought the ticket through an online lottery agent based overseas, theLotter.com. The website sends people to buy lottery tickets for customers and charges them a fee.