One of the winners of a historic USD 1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant fro🐬m Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his late🦄st chemotherapy treatment last week.
Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, of Portland, told a news conference held by the Oregon Lottery that he and his wife, Duanpen, would split the prize evenly with a friend who chipped in USD 100 to buy a batch of ti⭕ckets with them, Laiza Chao. They are taking a lump sum payment, USD 422 million after taxes.
“I will be able to provide for my family and my health,” he said,🐠 adding that he'd “find a good doctor for myself.”
He said that as a cancer patient, he wondered, “𝔉How am I going to have time to sp💙end all of this money? How long will I live?”
After they bought the shared tickets, Chao sent a photo of the tickets to Saephan and said, “We're billionaires.” It was a joke before the actual drawing, he said, but the next day it cameꦇ true.
The winning Powerball ticket was sold in early April at a Plaid Pantry convenience store in Portland, ending a winless streak that had stretched more than three months. The Oregon Lottery said 🐬it had to go through a security and vetting process before announcing the identity of the person who✱ came forward to claim the prize.
Under Oregon law, with few exceptions, lottery players canno𝄹t remain🐎 anonymous. Winners have a year to claim the top prize.
The jackpot has a cash value of USD 621 million before taxes if the winner chooses to take a lump sum rather than an annuity paid over 30 years, with 🧸an immediate payout follow🎃ed by 29 annual installments. The prize is subject to federal taxes and state taxes in Oregon.
The USD 1.3 billion prize is the fourth largest Powerball jackpot in h🃏istory, and the eighth largest amo𒉰ng U.S. jackpot games, according to the Oregon Lottery.
The biggest U.S. lottery jackpot won was USD🥃 2.04 billion in California in 2022.
