4 to split $295 million pot

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A divorced father who had just been laid off from his job claims to be one of four winners of the $294.8 million Powerball jackpot.

“I was just stunned. I just praised God and Jesus,” David Edwards, 46, told The Daily Independent of Ashland, Ky., on Sunday.

Kentucky Lottery officials would not confirm the name of the winner, but said it was a man who talked to the lottery president by phone on Sunday. The man was expected to be in Louisville today, lottery spokesman Rick Redman said.

Three other winning tickets were sold in New Hampshire, Delaware and Minnesota, but winners did not come forward in those states Sunday.

Each winner will receive $73.7 million, or $2.9 million a year for 25 years, as an annuity. The cash option is good for $41.4 million before taxes.

Edwards said he bought the winning ticket Saturday night at Clark’s Pump N Shop, where lottery officials confirmed the ticket was validated, near Ashland, in northeast Kentucky. A spokesman for the store could not immediately be reached for comment.

Edwards said he had recently been laid off from his fiber-optics job and was in need of back surgery.

He said the apparent winning numbers were chosen at random.

“Actually, I let the numbers pick me,” Edwards said.

Edwards said he purchased $8 worth of chances – seven for himself and one for his fiance.

For his first four plays, he used birthdays and other significant numbers.

On his fifth one, he decided to try something different.

“I said to myself, I’m going to look at the numbers, and the first ones that come to mind, those are the ones I’m gonna pick,” he said.

A call Edwards’ home by The Associated Press on Sunday revealed that his phone had been disconnected.

The winning numbers drawn Saturday night in Des Moines, Iowa, were 8-17-22-42-47, plus the Powerball number 21.

The jackpot for the game, played in 21 states and the District of Columbia, was the second-highest in Powerball history. A group of factory workers in Ohio split a $295.7 million prize in 1998.

Delaware State Lottery officials also didn’t plan to say until Monday where that state’s winning ticket was sold. State law allows the winner or winners to remain anonymous.

Minnesota Lottery officials won’t say where their winner was sold until the owner is verified.

That shouldn’t take very long, said Minnesota Lottery research director Don Feeney. “People can’t wait to get that ticket out of their hands,” he said Sunday.

The odds of winning the Powerball are 1 in 80 million.