Self-described 'lottery freak' buys $88M Powerball ticket

Jun 23, 2009, 2:20 pm (27 comments)

Powerball

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.

Jeff Wilson and his dad, Bill Wilson(Click for full-size; opens in new window)Jeff Wilson and his dad, Bill Wilson

Jeff Wilson, 27-year-old Powerball millionaire.(Click for full-size; opens in new window)Jeff Wilson, 27-year-old Powerball millionaire.

Bill Wilson, self-described 'lottery freak' who bought the winning ticket.(Click for full-size; opens in new window)Bill Wilson, self-described 'lottery freak' who bought the winning ticket.

Bill Wilson entertains the reporters, while Jeff Wilson holds his big check.(Click for full-size; opens in new window)Bill Wilson entertains the reporters, while Jeff Wilson holds his big check.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

MaddMike51

Congratulations to the lucky winner!

dk1421's avatardk1421

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!!"

pumpi76

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...

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

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.

CaesarsGhost

Quote: Originally posted by pumpi76 on Jun 23, 2009

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?

YoungNRich

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!

YoungNRich

Quote: Originally posted by YoungNRich on Jun 23, 2009

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.

CaesarsGhost

Quote: Originally posted by YoungNRich on Jun 23, 2009

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 :-)

Dawn32's avatarDawn32

Quote: Originally posted by YoungNRich on Jun 23, 2009

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.

tiggs95's avatartiggs95

YoungNRich good luck and keep the positive attitude your whole life..We are all pulling for you to win big while your young..

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by CaesarsGhost on Jun 23, 2009

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.

marlon39's avatarmarlon39

Congrats to him Party

CaesarsGhost

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Jun 23, 2009

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.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by Dawn32 on Jun 23, 2009

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.

Subscribe to this news story