Pedro Quezada is New Jersey’s newest millionaire after he walked away with the
$338 million Powerball lottery jackpot - the fourth largest payout in Powerball history.
Quezada, 44, walked down to his local liquor store, Eagle Liquors, to check his ticket only to find that, despite the 1 in 175 million odds, he was the winner of the huge sum.
Dozens of customers cheered as he called his wife to tell her the good news.
“I’m the millionaire, Ines, put on the TV so you can see me, or come down to the liquor store right now,” Quezada shouted.
Quezada , the owner of a deli and a father of five originally from the Dominican Republic but now residing in Passaic, N.J., intends only the best for his new found wealth.
“I’m going to help a lot of people, whatever they need,” he said.
The excited crowd soon became too much for Quezada, however, and he expressed his desire to leave.
The credit for the win is being handed to the clerk who printed the
winning Powerball ticket on Saturday, Prvain Mankodia, who believes that God blessed him with a “lucky hand.”
“I was thinking [Saturday] his ticket was a good ticket,” said Mankodia of the ticket containing the winning numbers 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31.
The largest U.S. jackpot ever was a $656 million Mega Millions pot, which was split by winners in Maryland, Kansas, and Illinois in March 2012.
A truck stop in
South Jersey originally claimed to have sold the most recent Powerball winner, but that story was eventually straightened out. Quezada's win was the second
massive Powerball jackpot of the past six months.
Quezada will get a lump sum payout of $221 million, or about $152 million after taxes, according to New Jersey Lottery Executive Director Carole Hedinger.
The winner was asked how it felt to be a millionaire; his response?
“I still don’t know, I haven’t got the money yet.”