A South Philadelphia store owner is in shock after learning a winning Powerball ticket worth $131.5 million was sold at his store.
The winning ticket for Saturday's drawing was sold at Federal Beer distributor located at 1440 Federal Street in the Point Breeze section of the city. The news came as a huge surprise to owner Gary Patel who found out once he was contacted by the media Sunday afternoon.
“I did not believe it, at first,” said Patel.
But now it’s starting to sink in. Patel will receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. And he already has plans for what he'll do with his new fortune.
“One, I gotta make sure my employees are happy. Two, I recently just had twins, most of the money (I’m) going to try to put it away for their college fund, and maybe we'll take a vacation, “said Patel.
Officials say the ticket matched all five white balls, 13-19-23-33-57 and the red Powerball 28, to win the $131.5 million annuity or $77.4 million cash less 25 percent federal withholding.
Patel says he has no idea who he sold the winning ticket to but most of his customers who come to his beer store are from the neighborhood. Kim Morfiah says she's a regular customer at the popular corner store.
“Oh my God, I wish it was me!,” said Morfiah. Somebody in the hood is rich! I did play...I didn't check my ticket yet. But I wish it was me. God I need that money.”
This marks the 17th Powerball jackpot-winning ticket sold by the Pennsylvania Lottery since they joined the multi-state game. This is the first time that Patel has come close to selling any of those tickets.
“No, no...never sold anything more than $10,000 here since I been here for eight years,” said Patel. “First time somebody win jackpot, really happy for them.”
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Patel says he has customer appreciation day every summer and feels like this is his reward.
Lottery officials cannot confirm the identity of the winner until the prize is claimed and the ticket is validated.
Pennsylvania Lottery Powerball winners have one year from the drawing date to claim prizes. Lottery officials encourage the holder of the winning ticket to immediately sign the back of the ticket and store it in a safe place.
