Powerball Winners: Minnesota Man, Paul White, Claims $149.4M Jackpot; What He Said After Winning [VIDEO]
The latest Powerball drawing with a $448 million jackpot had three lucky winners -- one from Minnesota and two from New Jersey.
Electrical engineer Paul White, from Ham Lake, Minn. claimed his prize and posed for the camera with his huge cardboard check, amounting to $149.4 million pre-taxes. White, who purchased 10 tickets last Wednesday night, will receive a lump sum Powerball jackpot prize of $58 million after taxes.
The other winners from New Jersey have yet to claim their share of the prize. The two winning New Jersey tickets were reportedly purchased from Super Stop & Shop in South Brunswick and Acme Markets in Little Egg Harbor.
The 45-year old White still can't believe he won the third largest jackpot in Powerball history. "It's crazy. I've gone through this in my head so many times and now it's coming true," he said during a news conference in Minneapolis.
According to a source, White did not have plans to check his ticket due to a busy schedule -- until he received a phone call from his girlfriend, 45-year old Kim VanReese. VanReese informed White that there had been a winner from Minnesota and that the Powerball was 32. White, who recalled having that Powerball number on two of his five Quick Pick tickets checked the winning numbers and realized he had hit the jackpot. White purchased his winning ticket from a store called Holiday in Ham Lake. The store will be awarded a $50,000 bonus for the win.
When asked how he plans to spend the jackpot prize, White said that "he wants to help his parents financially, put money aside for the college education of his two teenage children, take vacations and stop working for other people." With two children -- a 16-year old son and a 14-year old daughter from a previous marriage, his win relieves the pressure of funding his children's college education. White also has plans to help his parents -- his 80-year old father and 77-year old mother Betty White. Specifically, he is planning to buy back his father's cherished first car which he owned way back in 1963.
According to Powerball's official website, aside from White and two other winners from New Jersey, Wednesday's draw also awarded a total of $66.9 million to over 4,051,006 players. The current estimated jackpot for the game is $40 million -- translating to a $23 million cash value for Saturday's drawing.