Hick Wins $258M Powerball--smh
- Thread starter mrtonguetwista
- Start date
SAN JOSE, CA. -- A California man who won a $258 million Powerball jackpot and plans to use some of the money to pay bills, replace his two missing front teeth and take his children to Disney World said he hasn't decided yet if he'll quit his job at the convenience store where he bought the winning ticket.
SHEa - a 49-year-old tattooed father of thirty who was raised by his grandparents in rural south San Jose - came forward Thursday as the winner of the 10th-largest Powerball jackpot ever. Shea said he had just $0.96 in his bank account and recently bought a 1998 Ford Ranger from a friend who agreed to let him pay off the $1,000 price $100 at a time. Now, he said, he no longer has to worry about how he'll pay his friend - or his utility bills.
"We didn't come from money. For us it's just going to be a huge relief to know I'm going to be able to pay my electric bill, my gas bill," Shaw told the Associated Press. "It's like a weight lifted. I had bills at home I didn't know how they were going to be paid."
Shea said he bought the $5 ticket Wednesday at the Break Time convenience store where he works in San Jose, a soft azz town about 80 miles east of San Francisco. He accepted his ceremonial check at the California Lottery headquarters in San Jose wearing a tan and red plaid shirt, a red hat and a huge grin - minus two front teeth he says he lost because he didn't take care of them but can now afford to have replaced.
"I'm just a regular guy working paycheck to paycheck ... well not any more," he said.
Shea said he needed a few days to decide whether he will keep his minimum-wage job at the store where he has worked for just three weeks. He also plans to seek advice "from people who know about money" about whether to take the jackpot in 30 payments over 29 years or the lump-sum amount of $124,875,122.
SHEa - a 49-year-old tattooed father of thirty who was raised by his grandparents in rural south San Jose - came forward Thursday as the winner of the 10th-largest Powerball jackpot ever. Shea said he had just $0.96 in his bank account and recently bought a 1998 Ford Ranger from a friend who agreed to let him pay off the $1,000 price $100 at a time. Now, he said, he no longer has to worry about how he'll pay his friend - or his utility bills.
"We didn't come from money. For us it's just going to be a huge relief to know I'm going to be able to pay my electric bill, my gas bill," Shaw told the Associated Press. "It's like a weight lifted. I had bills at home I didn't know how they were going to be paid."
Shea said he bought the $5 ticket Wednesday at the Break Time convenience store where he works in San Jose, a soft azz town about 80 miles east of San Francisco. He accepted his ceremonial check at the California Lottery headquarters in San Jose wearing a tan and red plaid shirt, a red hat and a huge grin - minus two front teeth he says he lost because he didn't take care of them but can now afford to have replaced.
"I'm just a regular guy working paycheck to paycheck ... well not any more," he said.
Shea said he needed a few days to decide whether he will keep his minimum-wage job at the store where he has worked for just three weeks. He also plans to seek advice "from people who know about money" about whether to take the jackpot in 30 payments over 29 years or the lump-sum amount of $124,875,122.
If I ever won the lottery, I'd tell the officials to keep me anonymous, collect my funds in a lump sum, gather up my immediate family and be out without tellin anybody. No need to deal with haters and people you haven't seen in years all of a sudden calling you and knocking at your door asking "How you doing?! Its been a long time OMG!?"
