First Californian Powerball Winner Claims $213 Million Prize
Wednesday November 6th 2013After almost two weeks of silence, the winning $213 million Powerball ticket holder has come forward. Lottery officials released a statement on Monday identifying California’s first ever Powerball jackpot winner as 68-year-old retired nuclear medicine technician Carlo Mitchell.
The winner, known as Carl to his friends, realized that he had won the $213 million jackpot straight after the draw as he always plays the same numbers. Mitchell regularly bought his lottery tickets from the Fast N East gas station located on 6451 East Shields Avenue, Fresno and the happy store-owner will receive a windfall retailer bonus of $1 million for selling the ticket.
Carl and his wife of 27 years, Erlinda, opted to receive the win as a cash payout of $123.3 million. The couple were due to attend a press conference on Monday but dropped out after becoming concerned about all the attention they would inevitably receive.
Neighbors don’t believe that the Powerball jackpot win will change the Carl or Erlinda and described them as being ‘rich in their hearts.’ The Mitchells plan to donate money to their church, buy a new vacation home on the coast, help out their family – and continue to play Powerball!
Other Lottery News
The Mega Millions jackpot is now worth $115 million after players in last night’s draw failed to match the five main numbers and the Mega Ball. To view the latest results, visit the Mega Millions Winning Numbers page.