A Missouri man who won half of a $1.787 billion Powerball jackpot– the second-largest ever awarded in the U.S. – says in light of his newfound wealth, that he’s “going to just do me for a year.”
The winner, who was not named by lottery officials, plans to take some time off work and enjoy his portion of the prize. A Powerball player in Texas won the other half after also matching all six numbers, drawn on September 6.
“I’m going to just do me for a year,” the winner told Missouri lottery officials Monday, adding that he plans to spend time with his wife. They both plan to scale back their workloads.
Despite winning only half, the Missouri man walked away $893.5 million richer, though he opted to receive his earnings in a single lump-sum payment of about $410.3 million.
While he can now afford to travel wherever his heart desires, he told lottery officials that he is a massive homebody and is mainly looking forward to relaxing with his wife, though he noted that she was “going to drag me out of town now.”
The massive prize was still hard for the winner to wrap his head around nearly a month later.
“I’m a millionaire, a multi-millionaire, and I’m doing laundry last night,” he said. He added: “It’s the best problem I’ve ever had.”
His winning Quick Pick ticket was purchased at a QuikTrip in St. Louis, while the other winning ticket from Texas was bought at a gas station-convenience store in Fredericksburg, 80 miles west of Austin. Neither winner has been publicly identified.
The shared prize was the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot in history after 41 consecutive drawings in which no one matched all six numbers. The lucky numbers were 11, 23, 44, 61 and 62 with a Powerball number of 17. The last drawing with a jackpot before this winning was on May 31.
The historic prize dwarfs the previous Missouri Powerball record, which was set in 2012, of $293.7 million.
Powerball tickets cost $2 per play and are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292.2 million.
