Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A retired South Carolina state worker claimed the $259.9 million jackpot in the 30-state Powerball lottery, hours before a drawing for a $252 million prize in the Mega Millions game.

Solomon Jackson Jr., a former supervisor in the state Revenue Department who is unmarried and has no children, was introduced by South Carolina lottery officials today at a press conference in Columbia shown live over the Internet.

A lifelong resident of the Columbia area, Jackson said the money won’t change him. He said he cut his neighbor’s grass at 7:30 a.m. today because her father had recently died, ate a hamburger for lunch and got a $35 front-end alignment for his car in Lexington.

“I’m retired; I have enough money,” Jackson said. He wouldn’t reveal his age, or say whether he intends to take his winnings in a lump sum of about $129 million or in annual payments. “I won’t do a bunch with it, but someone’s going to be blessed.”

He bought the winning ticket at a Murphy USA gas station in Columbia, the capital, on a whim after filling up his car. The odds of winning the jackpot, the ninth-biggest prize in the game’s history, were 1 in 195 million. The Aug. 19 drawing selected the numbers 14, 24, 31, 43 and 51 with a Powerball number of 27.

Mega Millions

Jackson’s identity was announced just hours before a drawing will be held for a $252 million jackpot in the 12-state Mega Millions lottery, which is also the ninth-biggest prize in that game’s history. The odds of winning Mega Millions are 1 in 176 million.

The top Mega Millions prize, $390 million, won by a New Jersey couple and a Georgia truck driver in March 2007, was the largest in North America lottery history. The biggest Powerball jackpot, $365 million, was won by a group of Nebraska coworkers in February 2006.

Powerball is played in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Wisconsin and the Virgin Islands.

Players pick six numbers from two pools -- five numbers from 1 to 59 and one from 1 through 39. Tickets cost $1, and drawings are held every Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. in Orlando, Florida.

Mega Millions is played in California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington state. Players pick six numbers from two pools -- five numbers from 1 through 56 and one from 1 through 46. Tickets cost $1 for the drawings, which are held at 11 p.m. local time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 25, 2009 16:02 EDT