Posted on 04/23/2010 5:12:43 PM PDT by Libloather
Store clerk is winner of $258.5M Powerball lottery jackpot
Apr. 23, 2010, 7:56 a.m.
The winning ticket for the biggest jackpot in Missouri history was sold at a convenience store in Marshall, and a store official said Thursday that the winner is a clerk who works at the store.
Lottery officials announced Thursday that a Powerball ticket purchased at the city's Break Time convenience store hit all six numbers in Wednesday night's drawing. The $258.5 million jackpot is the biggest ever won in Missouri, and the 10th-biggest Powerball jackpot ever.
Although the Lottery is waiting to verify the ticket before announcing the name of the winner, a Break Time official said the Lottery's communications director had left the store Thursday morning with an employee who bought the winning ticket.
"Gary Gonder with the Lottery scooped him off and is taking him to Jefferson City," said Jackie Maxwell, general manager of the Missouri-based Break Time convenience store chain. "The Missouri Lottery looked at his ticket, confirmed his numbers and took him away."
Maxwell was at the store doing a telephone interview with The Associated Press when the employee walked in and said he had won.
"This is just absolutely amazing," Maxwell said as cheering erupted in the background. "I'm so excited for him. I'm thrilled for him."
Lottery spokeswoman Susan Goedde confirmed that the ticket had been bought at that store and said it could take up to a day to verify the winning ticket.
The winner has been identified as Chris Shaw of Marshall, Mo. Shaw is in his 20s and has been working at the store for only a few months before striking it rich.
"At this point he's trying to absorb that it's even real," she said in a later phone conversation with AP. "He's just a great guy, a good employee. When you think of a large winner like this, everyone likes to see that the person who won is somebody like (him). He's an awesome guy."
Natasha Woody said that she sold the winning ticket to her co-worker Wednesday night, adding that at the time he joked about having the winning ticket and told Woody that if he won he would give her $2 million.
"It's just the fact that I sold it," said Woody. "I got to touch the ticket."
Other customers said they wished they had purchased a ticket on Wednesday. One person said, "That could have been me, but I'm so excited for him."
Woody doesn't know if Shaw will take the joking promise seriously, but she said, "Honestly I think he'll do something, because he's that kind of guy."
Store manager Debbie Rogers said that Shaw had been a truck driver before working at the store. "He stopped driving trucks so he can be with his family," said Shaw.
He had been making $7.25 an hour as a clerk. Rogers said he had been facing some tough times.
"Nobody deserves it more than him," she said.
The winner can choose between a lump-sum pretax payment of roughly $124.8 million or take the jackpot in 30 payments over 29 years.
The winning numbers were 11-34-41-49-55, Powerball 20. The Power Play number was 2.
Break Time will receive $50,000 for selling the winning ticket.
The prize goes to an estimated $20 million for Saturday.
Maxwell said there have been several other lottery winners at Break Time stores in the past couple of years, including a $2.5 million Missouri Lotto ticket in St. Joseph, $1.5 million Lotto winner in Jefferson City and $1 million scratch-off ticket winner in Mexico. Mo.
I can tell this guy is going to be broke within 5 years.
He would have to work at it harder than he's ever worked in his life to be broke with that kind of money ... LOL ...
I would never claim a jackpot in person, I’d incorporate into a corporation or a non-profit organization and claim the money that way.
Ummmm..., I don't think you can change the "facts of the circumstances" of how you bought the ticket -- "after the fact" ... doncha know ... :-)
Also, the guy was stupid to claim the prize as he did. he should have gone to a lawyer... set up some "corporation" of something like that and have it, represented by the lawyer perhaps, claim the prize.
It looks like an official from the lottery was there at the store, "scooping up the employee" that very day. They were ready to grab him before he even knew what hit him ... LOL ...
Dear God please get some dental work done. He will be poor again within the year. Serious White Trash going on there.
this sounds so suspicious to me....the odds of winning at all are infinite, and for a clerk that works at the store to buy the winning ticket..??..
Also some financial planners recommend taking it not lump sum but via the annuitizaation, i.e. the 20 yr payment plan, that way you only get a couple of million a year and have less of a chance of screwing it all up royally.
Ummmm..., these days, the way the country and the economy and the world is going -- no way! I say grab it all at once and do your best to get ready for the worst that is about to happen to the economy and this country.
You wait 20 years and you might not even survive ... LOL ...
Hmmmm..., sounds like an agreement to me ... could be enforced ... :-)
If he’d said “I’ll give you $2m of my possible winnings if you kiss me now” and she did, then it would be a contract.
Shooot Im gonna buy me some toofs
I hope he knows who all his relatives are!
“this sounds so suspicious to me....the odds of winning at all are infinite, and for a clerk that works at the store to buy the winning ticket..??..”
Clearly the case here...my wife used to walk away when the clerk told her she lost...we’ll NEVER know what the truth was. Obviously, it should be illegal for a clerk to ‘win’, and the same should be true for family, or anyone else close.
Interesting.But how did the official know where to find him? Judging by his looks (which,I admit,isn't always wise) it appears that he's not very well educated...is,most likely not a Mensa member...has never had to deal with large sums of $$$...and has rarely,if ever,been to the big city.
To whatever degree I may have judged him correctly it doesn't bode well for him.I fear for this guy's future.
I disagree. With the way the dollar is headed, I'd rather take the lump sum. In 20 years it'll probably be worth less than toilet paper.
On the other hand, he could be a hard working guy who has a second job in some sort of manual labor field, like a roughneck, which an accident caused his loss. Who knows what his education may be or what kind of person he is. I have a friend who got a MBA the same year I did who works in the oilfield now.
He’d better hire personal protection for himself and loved ones.
Obviously, it should be illegal for a clerk to ‘win’, and the same should be true for family, or anyone else close.
I don't think so... they're machines that are tied in with the lottery system and it's the machine that prints it out and produces those numbers. It doesn't matter who is getting the ticket from the machine... it's going to print it out just the way it does -- no matter who the person is who is waiting for that ticket to be printed out.
And if you choose your own numbers, then again, it doesn't matter, because the "winning number" is not something that is produced at that store, or is influenced in any way possible by an employee.
They usually even televise the picking of those winning numbers so that you can't even affect that.
And in addition, you'll notice that they'll also check to verify that it's a legitimate ticket in the first place (by checking to make sure that the machine did produce that ticket from what they have on record at headquarters, in their system).
All the "winning stuff" is done miles away from the store and can't be influencd or affected in any way by whatever happens in the store or by any employee.
You don’t (or didn’t) live in Texas, where the only way to tell you won is if the clerk was dumb enough to say so. I saw it first-hand.
Interesting. But how did the official know where to find him?
Once they draw the winning numbers, their computer system will tell them if any of the numbers produced (by machine) or any numbers chosen (by a person) was a match -- anywhere. And once they see a "match" -- they know instantly, by computer system, exactly where it came from (that is, what store sold it).
Remember, the selling agency (i.e., the store) gets "winnings" too for sellilng a winning ticket. You can bet the store owner is very glad to see that they sold a winning ticket. That means big money for the store ... :-)
So, they're right there -- on the spot -- the very next day, because they know exactly where the ticket was sold. :-)
? are you saying one of the clerk’s took the ticket that should have gone to another person?
I don’t pay attention to lottery stuff but I’d think the lottery procedures would include close review of exact time the ticket was purchased, who was in the store at that time etc.? Or do they just pay no attention unless a controversy arises?
Yeah, it does seem (potentially) suspicious for one of the store clerks to present the winning ticket when the odds are astronomical against one of them buying that ticket. Hey, wait, that’s MY ticket and I was just passing through MO on Wed night when I bought my lottery tix...... ha
You don’t (or didn’t) live in Texas, where the only way to tell you won is if the clerk was dumb enough to say so. I saw it first-hand.
Ummmm..., you're saying that in Texas, they don't let the public know what the winning numbers are? LOL ...
I mean, in case you don't know... you can just get on the Internet and find the winning numbers if you want. You can read the next day's paper and find the winning numbers. You don't have to go back to the store to find out what the winning numbers were... :-)
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