You last visited May 20, 2013, 3:46 am All times shown are
Eastern Time (GMT-5:00) | Self-described 'lottery freak' buys $88M Powerball ticket Powerball: Self-described 'lottery freak' buys $88M Powerball ticket4.73 Rating:27-year-old is now a Powerball millionaire RALEIGH, N.C. — Jeff Wilson, 27, has his "lottery freak" dad to thank for helping him win the $88 million Powerball. Wilson met the media Tuesday and talked about his winnings. "I don't really know what to say. Does anybody have any questions?" he asked reporters as he timidly stepped in front of the cameras. "I don't know if I'm gonna wake up in a minute and it's gonna be a dream." Wilson's dad, Bill Wilson, purchased the ticket at a gas station in Kings Mountain and was the only winner in Saturday's drawing. The ticket is worth $88 million. Jeff Wilson chose to take a lump-sum payment worth about $42 million. After taxes, he will get about $29 million. While Jeff Wilson was shy and reserved in front of the cameras, his dad was outgoing and entertained the audience. "I'm a lottery freak. See, I already have tomorrow night's drawing. Maybe I'll be back!" Bill Wilson said, holding up his tickets. "I told everybody for years I was going to hit it. Nobody ever believed me. And it worked out." After buying the tickets Saturday night, "right before the deadline," Bill Wilson let his family members each pick one. Jeff Wilson picked the winning numbers, which his dad had played before. When asked what he planned to do with the money, Jeff Wilson said he wasn't sure, then rattled off a couple ideas: go on a vacation, share some with his family and possibly donate to a children's hospital. "My dad's the one that bought the ticket, so I guess I gotta share with him," he said with a laugh. Jeff Wilson said he's not concerned about old acquaintances asking him for money. "I know how to change my phone number and move," he said with a smile. Jeff Wilson previously worked as a real estate broker. He has been accepted and still plans to attend graduate school in August. He did not want to identify the school. "I need to find a job," he said. Bill Wilson said he recently retired from his job at Steve White Motors in Hickory. He says he has one more week on the job before he officially leaves. He also thanked North Carolina lawmakers for approving the lottery.  (Click for full-size; opens in new window)Jeff Wilson and his dad, Bill Wilson
 (Click for full-size; opens in new window)Jeff Wilson, 27-year-old Powerball millionaire.
 (Click for full-size; opens in new window)Bill Wilson, self-described 'lottery freak' who bought the winning ticket.
 (Click for full-size; opens in new window)Bill Wilson entertains the reporters, while Jeff Wilson holds his big check.
Lottery Post Staff We'd love to see your comments here! Register for a FREE membership — it takes just a few moments — and you'll be able to post comments here and on any of our forums. If you're already a member, you can Log In to post a comment. 27 comments. Last comment 4 years ago by .
United States
Member #59008
February 18, 2008
710 Posts
Offline
| | Posted: June 23, 2009, 3:01 pm - IP Logged | |
27-year-old is now a Powerball millionaire Jeff Wilson, 27, has his "lottery freak" dad to thank for helping him win the $88 million Powerball. Wilson met the media Tuesday and talked about his winnings. "I don't really know what to say. Does anybody have any questions?" he asked reporters as he timidly stepped in front of the cameras. "I don't know if I'm gonna wake up in a minute and it's gonna be a dream." Wilson's dad, Bill Wilson, purchased the ticket at a gas station in Kings Mountain and was the only winner in Saturday's drawing. The ticket is worth $88 million. Jeff Wilson chose to take a lump-sum payment worth about $42 million. After taxes, he will get about $29 million. While Jeff Wilson was shy and reserved in front of the cameras, his dad was outgoing and entertained the audience. "I'm a lottery freak. See, I already have tomorrow night's drawing. Maybe I'll be back!" Bill Wilson said, holding up his tickets. "I told everybody for years I was going to hit it. Nobody ever believed me. And it worked out." After buying the tickets Saturday night, "right before the deadline," Bill Wilson let his family members each pick one. Jeff Wilson picked the winning numbers, which his dad had played before. When asked what he planned to do with the money, Jeff Wilson said he wasn't sure, then rattled off a couple ideas: go on a vacation, share some with his family and possibly donate to a children's hospital. "My dad's the one that bought the ticket, so I guess I gotta share with him," he said with a laugh. Jeff Wilson said he's not concerned about old acquaintances asking him for money. "I know how to change my phone number and move," he said with a smile. Jeff Wilson previously worked as a real estate broker. He has been accepted and still plans to attend graduate school in August. He did not want to identify the school. "I need to find a job," he said. Bill Wilson said he recently retired from his job at Steve White Motors in Hickory. He says he has one more week on the job before he officially leaves. He also thanked North Carolina lawmakers for approving the lottery. (Click for full-size; opens in new window)Jeff Wilson and his dad, Bill Wilson (Click for full-size; opens in new window)Jeff Wilson, 27-year-old Powerball millionaire. (Click for full-size; opens in new window)Bill Wilson, self-described 'lottery freak' who bought the winning ticket. (Click for full-size; opens in new window)Bill Wilson entertains the reporters, while Jeff Wilson holds his big check. Congratulations to the lucky winner! | | |
North Carolina United States Member #65081 September 1, 2008 302 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 3:03 pm - IP Logged | |
Living in NC, this is only the 2nd time we've won Powerball in the 3 years we've had the lottery. So what I'm saying is.... "it's about TIME!!" | | |
Honduras Member #21312 August 29, 2005 4715 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 4:36 pm - IP Logged | |
How did it go from 88 million almost 100 million to 29 million what kind of crap is that...The USA takes too much taxes... I am not going to lie to you millions are powerful we can do plenty of things with it but he needs to go and lose some weight...His job that he wants to get needs to be the gym...Hit the gym and then help push this planet forward... i hate when people that win large amount try to take that money for themselves, instead of finding a way to push this world forward or help... What's the point of winning if the state is taking 13 million away from you...And leaving you only with 29 million...and then you have to split it with your dad... The Forex trades: 1.6 Trillion dollars EVERY day, that´s more than the GDP of the Carribbean Central America, COMBINED. Enough to feed every crook out there for centuries...To all Geniuses & Powers Countries of the World the Planet needs breakthroughs in all Medicine, Veterinary, Biology related fields, Psychology, Population Psychology/Sociology..They need to genetically ingeneer new plants species/types to give more variety of plants and thus have more resources for combating diseases¨
| | |
Massachusetts United States Member #37842 April 14, 2006 957 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 5:30 pm - IP Logged | |
young men in their 20's hitting jackpots quite alot nowadays. I'm yet to see any 20 something women hitting it but I know their turn is coming. | | |
United States
Member #66424
October 10, 2008
14 Posts
Offline
| | Posted: June 23, 2009, 5:38 pm - IP Logged | |
How did it go from 88 million almost 100 million to 29 million what kind of crap is that...The USA takes too much taxes... I am not going to lie to you millions are powerful we can do plenty of things with it but he needs to go and lose some weight...His job that he wants to get needs to be the gym...Hit the gym and then help push this planet forward... i hate when people that win large amount try to take that money for themselves, instead of finding a way to push this world forward or help... What's the point of winning if the state is taking 13 million away from you...And leaving you only with 29 million...and then you have to split it with your dad... Powerball has always had lower cash payouts then Mega Millions... if you look at a similar Mega Millions payout at the same amount, it's well over 10-20m more. The current MM payout at 68m Lotto would put me at roughly 29m after taxes... that's 20m less, and 4 years less on the annuity if I took that (26 years for MegaMillions, 30 for Powerball). You'd think Powerball, having more then twice the number of states, would have greater cash payouts... wouldn't you? | | |
New Member
Baton Rouge, Louisiana United States Member #76689 June 20, 2009 6 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 5:49 pm - IP Logged | |
Im 21 yrs old and I can't wait til I win, Call me crazy but Im gonna buy 500 tickets tonite or tomorrow and pray that I win and If i don't I'll try it once more this sat. coming! I don't need 200 100 or even 50 million, I'll take the lowest jackpot and make it work for me for the rest of my life while helping others along the way. And I definitely wouldn't mind being the 1st person on lottery post to say I hit the jackpot! | | |
New Member
Baton Rouge, Louisiana United States Member #76689 June 20, 2009 6 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 5:51 pm - IP Logged | |
Im 21 yrs old and I can't wait til I win, Call me crazy but Im gonna buy 500 tickets tonite or tomorrow and pray that I win and If i don't I'll try it once more this sat. coming! I don't need 200 100 or even 50 million, I'll take the lowest jackpot and make it work for me for the rest of my life while helping others along the way. And I definitely wouldn't mind being the 1st person on lottery post to say I hit the jackpot! Oh and if that 500 doesn't work Im just gonna go ALL OUT and Drop 3grand and Cross my fingers X- > really hope it doesn't have to come to that though. | | |
United States
Member #66424
October 10, 2008
14 Posts
Offline
| | Posted: June 23, 2009, 5:56 pm - IP Logged | |
Oh and if that 500 doesn't work Im just gonna go ALL OUT and Drop 3grand and Cross my fingers X- > really hope it doesn't have to come to that though. you know it's funny... I don't think I ever read a lottery story where somebody claimed they won by buying a hundred tickets. It's always stories of people who buy like 1-10. Or randomly buy one in order to try at that big 100+m jackpot. ...me, personally, I scale up the #s of tickets I pick up depending on how big the jackpot is... never over 10 though. Most I've won was on a birthday ticket: $150. i blogged about it here actually :-) | | |
New Jersey United States Member #72153 March 1, 2009 204 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 5:57 pm - IP Logged | |
Oh and if that 500 doesn't work Im just gonna go ALL OUT and Drop 3grand and Cross my fingers X- > really hope it doesn't have to come to that though. Hey if you do that you should definitely wheel your numbers to get the higher odds of winning. "Bless me Lord, so that I may be a blessing to others."
| | |
United States Member #47874 November 4, 2006 3930 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 6:14 pm - IP Logged | |
YoungNRich good luck and keep the positive attitude your whole life..We are all pulling for you to win big while your young.. | | |
mid-Ohio United States Member #9 March 24, 2001 15927 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 6:21 pm - IP Logged | |
you know it's funny... I don't think I ever read a lottery story where somebody claimed they won by buying a hundred tickets. It's always stories of people who buy like 1-10. Or randomly buy one in order to try at that big 100+m jackpot. ...me, personally, I scale up the #s of tickets I pick up depending on how big the jackpot is... never over 10 though. Most I've won was on a birthday ticket: $150. i blogged about it here actually :-) You must not do a lot of reading about lottery winners. The largest ever single PowerBall jackpot was won by a construction company owner, Jack Whittaker of West Virginia who bought 100 tickets. The largest jackpot ever (BigGame which became MegaMillions) was won by two guys, one in Illinois and the other in Michigan. The guy in Michigan who owned a swimming pool construction company, claimed he bought a hot dog at a service station, only had a $100 bill so he use it to pay for his hot dog and asked for his change in BigGame lottery tickets. * The fundamentals of winning a lottery jackpot *
* play a lottery you can win *
| | |
Philippines Member #71700 February 20, 2009 226 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 6:24 pm - IP Logged | |
Congrats to him  "I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious."
- Vince Lombardi | | |
United States
Member #66424
October 10, 2008
14 Posts
Offline
| | Posted: June 23, 2009, 6:28 pm - IP Logged | |
You must not do a lot of reading about lottery winners. The largest ever single PowerBall jackpot was won by a construction company owner, Jack Whittaker of West Virginia who bought 100 tickets. The largest jackpot ever (BigGame which became MegaMillions) was won by two guys, one in Illinois and the other in Michigan. The guy in Michigan who owned a swimming pool construction company, claimed he bought a hot dog at a service station, only had a $100 bill so he use it to pay for his hot dog and asked for his change in BigGame lottery tickets. I stand corrected? haha I do actually read alot about it... but you can't keep track of them all. I remember the Whittaker story only because of the complete level of disgust the story continued to bring as he bottomed out and it got worse. | | |
mid-Ohio United States Member #9 March 24, 2001 15927 Posts Offline | | Posted: June 23, 2009, 6:38 pm - IP Logged | |
Hey if you do that you should definitely wheel your numbers to get the higher odds of winning. Wheeling doesn't improve your odds of winning, it just guarantees a minimum win if all the winning numbers are in the pool of numbers that you wheeled. For example, you can wheel all 49 numbers of a 6/49 game in 163 lines and be guaranteed a match 3 which in Ohio pays $2, but your odds of winning the jackpot would be the same if you bought 163 randomly picked combinations. * The fundamentals of winning a lottery jackpot *
* play a lottery you can win *
| | |
|