Engineer in Minnesota ecstatic after US$149m lottery win
An engineer who was one of three winners of a US$448 million Powerball lottery in America said he was so excited to hear he had won that he ran around the office at a contracting firm in Minnesota where he works.
An engineer who was one of three winners of a US$448 million Powerball lottery in America said he was so excited to hear he had won that he ran around the office at a contracting firm in Minnesota where he works.
"It's crazy, I've got to tell you," said Paul White, 45, a divorced father of two teenagers.
White said he learned on Thursday morning at Elliott Contracting in Minneapolis, where he works as a project engineer, that he had a winning ticket. He jumped up and ran around the office, and asked several people to look at the ticket to verify the Powerball number of 32 and numbers 5-25-30-58-59.
He then went to the Minnesota Lottery office, where he chose to take a cash payment of US$86 million, or US$58.3 million after taxes, from his US$149 million share.
"I have been waiting for this moment all my life," White said after being asked why he had come forward so quickly.
White said he had imagined winning the lottery "so many times in my head". He was joined by Kim VanReese, 45, his partner of four years, Ron Bowen, his boss at Elliott, and Bowen's wife, Nancy Bowen.
"He started the day my boss. He's going to end the day my chauffeur," White said, joking.
The identity of the other two winning ticket holders had not been confirmed.
