Staten Island plumber unearths $136m lottery ticket from his basement
A Staten Island plumber has won a lottery jackpot of more than $136 million after unwittingly leaving the winning ticket abandoned in his basement for six weeks.
Anthony Perosi, 56, bought the ticket on March 14, but a friend mistakenly told him that someone else had won. He then pinned the ticket to a pipe in his basement, where he keeps other tickets he has recently bought, but didn't check its numbers.
When his truck broke down more than a month later, he went to the basement to check whether any tickets at the "lucky" spot might help him pay for car parts.
"I was looking at the ticket, looking at the computer, looking at the ticket, looking at the computer," he said at a press conference last week. "I tried to breathe in, and nothing would go in, so I thought I was having a heart attack, like my heart stopped.
"So I really grabbed the ticket, thinking that they'll find it in my hand," he joked. "And then I finally exhaled."
He said he spent the next few minutes walking in a circle in his living room and dining room in disbelief, his dogs trailing him, before he finally called his 27-year-old son to tell him.
"I didn't believe him when he told me," said his son, also named Anthony. "Then he gave me the ticket and I checked on my phone, and I thought I'd almost have the heart attack."
The father said he will share his winnings with his son. After taxes, Anthony senior will receive US$38.6m, and his son will get US$16.5m. The elder Perosi said he will keep working, but "a lot less, and do some investing for the future of my nieces and nephews and my grandchildren".
His son said he would pay the bills and think about his future.
Lottery officials said it was the second largest Powerball prize ever awarded in New York.
