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A widow aged 84 had every right to show off her numerous laughter lines yesterday – after she was revealed as the owner of a lottery ticket worth £383million.

Gloria MacKenzie, who lives in a small shack, has been named as America’s biggest-ever lotto winner.

And she admitted she only bagged her astonishing jackpot because someone let her jump the queue at the shop where she bought the lucky ticket.

The gran said in a statement: “While in line, another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them – to purchase the winning ticket.

"We are very grateful for this blessing.”

It was not known last night whether Gloria was planning to track down the stranger to hand over a share of the prize.

As the winner of the Powerball jackpot, Gloria had a choice over how the windfall would be paid out.

She could either pocket the £383million in 30 annual payments of around £12million each year.

Or she could opt for a lump sum, though the prize would be reduced.

(Image: Splash)

At the age of 84, it was probably no surprise that she chose the one-off payment – a still-impressive £240million.

Gloria, described by neighbours as a “sweet little old lady”, bought the £1.30 winning ticket at the Publix grocery shop in her hometown of Zephyrhills, Florida, 30 miles north east of Tampa.

She travelled to the state capital Tallahassee with her son and two lawyers yesterday to claim her prize after her numbers came up in the draw on May 18.

Under state law, a winner cannot remain anonymous. But they do not have to appear in public to acknowledge the prize and Gloria decided against attending yesterday’s press conference held by the state lottery.

Florida lottery executive Cindy O’Connell said: “We’re delighted that we have the sole winner. This is the sixth Florida Powerball winner and it’s the sole winner of the largest-ever Powerball jackpot.”

Officials confirmed it was the biggest single win in US lotto history and the odds of taking home the top prize were one in 175 million.

The world’s largest jackpot was a £425million win in the US in 2012. But that prize was split between three tickets.