The New York Post reported on April 30 that the winner of the Powerball jackpot in the US is a Laotian who is battling cancer and just finished chemotherapy last week.
Cheng "Charlie" Saephan, 46, of Portland, Oregon, who has had cancer for eight years, said he and his wife, Duanpen Saephan, 37, will split the prize with a friend named Laiza Chao, who contributed $100 to buy some lottery tickets with them. They decided to receive a lump sum of $422 million after taxes.
"I'm grateful that I won the lottery and that I've been blessed," he said at an April 29 press conference hosted by the Oregon Lottery, adding that "his life has been changed."
“I will be able to take care of my family and my health… I will find a good doctor for myself,” he shared, wondering how long he would live and how he would spend the money.
Mr. Chao, 55, reportedly spent $100 to buy a series of lottery tickets with Mr. Saephan and his wife. After buying the tickets together, Mr. Chao took a picture of the tickets and joked, “We are billionaires,” when he sent the photo to his friend. The next day, they actually won the jackpot.
Upon hearing the news, Mr. Cheng immediately called his wife to tell her the life-changing news. "I asked her where she was and she said she was at work, so I told her she didn't have to work anymore," he excitedly recounted.
Mr. Saephan said he will buy a house in Oregon for his family and may continue buying lottery tickets. "Maybe I will be lucky again," he hoped.
This is the fourth largest prize in Powerball history and the eighth largest lottery prize in US history.
This is the 41st drawing since the last jackpot was won on New Year's Day, when someone won $842.4 million. Powerball tickets cost $2 each. The odds of winning are 1 in 292.2 million.
“This is an unprecedented jackpot for the Oregon Lottery,” said Mike Wells, director of the Oregon Lottery. “This is the largest jackpot in the history of the company. They had to increase security.”
The largest US lottery jackpot was $2.04 billion, in California in 2022.
Minh Hoa (reported by Thanh Nien, VTV, VietNamNet)
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