Guest Vern Gagne Report post Posted December 26, 2002 http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,73886,00.html DES MOINES, Iowa — Someone who bought a lottery ticket in West Virginia won the $314.9 million jackpot in Wednesday's Powerball drawing, a lottery official said. Multi-State Lottery Association drawing manager Sue Dooley said no other information on the winner would be immediately released late Wednesday. An unexpected Christmas Day run on Powerball tickets pushed the already whopping $280 million jackpot to $314.9 million just before numbers were drawn, making it the multistate lottery's largest prize ever. The numbers in Wednesday night's drawing were 5-14-16-29-53 and the Powerball was 7. The prize would be the third-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. Joe Mahoney, a spokesman for the Multi-State Lottery Association said the jackpot grew after holiday sales were much higher than expected. "We were always planning on Wednesday, Christmas Day, to be a very light day for sales," Mahoney said. "Monday and Tuesday were much higher than we expected them to be and (Christmas) ... was much higher than we anticipated it to be." But since gas stations and convenience stores -- typical lottery retailers -- were open Christmas Day, throngs of people ventured out to get a piece of the action. "That's about all I'm selling today," said Mike Green, store manager of a QuikTrip in Des Moines. "A lot of people are buying them for gifts." At a Kum & Go convenience store in Des Moines, customers bought as many as 100 tickets apiece, including Richard Nichols, who stopped by before Christmas dinner. He didn't think it was a big purchase. "When you don't buy them very often, it's not that much," said Nichols. "We're just about ready to eat, so, I said, 'I got to do an errand here."' Powerball, the nation's largest lottery game, is run by the Multi-State Lottery Association and is played in 23 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Sounantha Baccam, 27, of Des Moines, planned to buy about 10 tickets. "I think it's pretty neat, though, isn't it, on Christmas Day, to go for it?" he said. If the prize goes unclaimed Wednesday, the jackpot would reach record levels, said Mary Neubauer, spokeswoman for the Iowa lottery. One first-time player, Bill Sanders, 60, of Mission, Kan., bought his ticket Wednesday from a gas station. If the single ticket he bought is the winner, "I'd probably travel the world and live a lot different than I do now." The game's second-largest jackpot was $295.7 million in July 1998. Last summer, it reached $295 million. The biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history was a Big Game prize of $363 million, won in May 2000 by ticketholders in Michigan and Illinois. The second was a $331 million Big Game jackpot split between three tickets in April. I never win anything. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest So what? I liked bubble boy Report post Posted December 27, 2002 This guy is totally awesome. You can say "He doen't deserve it". "He has money already." "He doesn't need it". You guys should call this man st. nick. He is giving away a lot of his money. Nice guy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Samurai_Goat Report post Posted December 27, 2002 Hey, I don't know much about this guy, but if he's a good buisnessman, then I'm guessing he'll use the money better than most would. So, cheers, I guess. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest NoCalMike Report post Posted December 27, 2002 Well of course he is giving a lot of the money away, his own business grosses 17 million a year anyway. It doesn't matter though, the lottery is for the public and EVERYONE is fair game, so all you can do is offer a huge congradulations. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cynicalprofit Report post Posted December 27, 2002 My friends should have won. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Incandenza Report post Posted December 29, 2002 According to that bastion of respectable journalism, the NY Post, this guy only tipped the doorman at this one place a dollar. What an asshole. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest DrTom Report post Posted December 29, 2002 According to that bastion of respectable journalism, the NY Post, this guy only tipped the doorman at this one place a dollar. What an asshole. Hey, it's his money. The real assholes in this scenario are the IRS. The guy won $315 million, and he's only going to end up with a little more than $110 million. I know that's still a lot of money, but the Internal Racketeering Service came in and lopped off HALF the man's winnings, right off the bat. HALF. There's no federal tax bracket that high, so why are they allowed to do that? No one is really jumping on them for this, though, which I find both strange and sad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest J*ingus Report post Posted December 29, 2002 It wasn't all taxes. Long story short, you can get a smaller sum of money up front (110 after taxes) or larger sum paid out over decades (315 before taxes), and this guy chose to get it all up front. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Bosstones Fan Report post Posted December 30, 2002 According to that bastion of respectable journalism, the NY Post, this guy only tipped the doorman at this one place a dollar. What an asshole. So what? I'm so sick of all the overtipping that goes on in society today. EVERYBODY wants a tip for something, and no matter how much you give, it is never enough. I swear to God, the next time the pizza delivery guy lingers on my front porch waiting for a tip, I'll probably snap and kill him. Why the hell should I tip him for doing his job??? He makes $6 an hour as it is...why does he deserve more?? Waiters/waitresses I have no problem tipping; that's the only way they make any money. But everybody else can kiss my ass. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
