Brooklyn Trucker Quits Job After Claiming $298 Million Powerball Jackpot
Monday January 28th 2019A man from Brooklyn is planning to trade his truck for a porsche after winning $298 million on Powerball. David Johnson landed the massive jackpot on December 26th and has now come forward to claim his money one month later.
Johnson matched the winning numbers 5, 25, 38, 52 and 67, plus the Powerball 24, having bought his ticket at Arnold’s Service Station on Linden Boulevard, about six miles west of John F. Kennedy International Airport. He did not even check the results for a couple of days, but then found out that he had received the ultimate late Christmas present.
“I got a call that the winning ticket was sold at the store where I buy my tickets,” said the 56-year-old, a husband and father who moved to the U.S. from Jamaica at the age of 16. “I went to the store and gave the ticket to the clerk to check. He scanned it and said, ‘Congratulations.’ I needed to see it for myself, so I scanned and saw it read BIG WINNER.”
Jumping Up And Down
Johnson revealed that he ‘didn’t know what to do’ when he discovered that he had won and found himself jumping up and down with delight. He waited a few weeks to make contact with New York Lottery officials, but he has already made a few big decisions.
The main change is that he has retired from his life on the road as a truck driver. “Don’t get me wrong,” he told CBS New York. “The job (did) pay good, but it’s hard work. I always wanted to quit and now I get the chance to quit.”
Having opted to take the lump sum, which works out at around $114 million after taxes, Johnson wants to buy a red Porsche and a new house in Brooklyn, while he has hired an attorney to help him invest a lot of the money.
Will New York’s Winning Run Continue?
Johnson was the third Powerball winner from New York in 2018, following in the footsteps of Nandlall Mangal and Robert Bailey. Staten Island construction worker Mangal pocketed $245 million in August, before retired federal government employee Bailey shared a jackpot of $687 million with Iowa resident Lerynne West.
A player from New York also banked $425 million on Mega Millions on January 1st 2019, becoming the Empire State’s biggest winner of all time. Both Powerball and Mega Millions are back above $100 million following recent rollovers, giving New Yorkers and players from the rest of the country another chance to snap up incredible amounts of money.
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