California – California's latest multi-millionaire wasted no time coming forward and claiming his massive $228.4 million jackpot! Vinh Nguyen walked into the California Lottery's Hayward District office late Thursday afternoon with his winning Powerball ticket in hand.
Nguyen was the sole winner in Wednesday night's Powerball drawing matching the numbers 7, 14, 24, 41, 21 and the Powerball number 26.
While Nguyen said he did not wish to do media interviews, he did talk about what his life has been like for the mere 20 hours between Wednesday night's draw and when he decided to claim his prize.
Nugyen, who works as a nail technician, told the California Lottery that like most Lottery players he was always hoping to win the jackpot. But when he realized he was the jackpot winner, Nguyen said "I read the numbers, I didn't think I had won."
Nguyen said he has been playing the Lottery for the last five years. He decides how much he spends every week depending on how well he does in tips at work. Nguyen spent $30 buying 15 Powerball tickets for Wednesday's drawing. "I picked my own numbers for the ticket. They were all random. Whatever numbers come into my head I pick," Nguyen said.
Nguyen told the California Lottery he has no plans for the money yet. "I just want to be a normal man," Nguyen said.
Nguyen chose the annuity payment option which will give him the full $228,467,735 jackpot paid out over 30 years.
The jackpot-winning ticket was purchased at Dehoff's Key Market, which is located at 500 South Norfolk Street in San Mateo. Dehoff's Key Market will receive a retailer bonus of $1 million for selling the jackpot-winning ticket. "We don't have final plans yet for the money. We have all kinds of improvements for the stores that we are always working on and we are discussing other things. This is a nice windfall since the margins in our business are so thin," said Chris Dehoff, President of Dehoff's Key Markets. The family-run chain of three stores has had a $10,000 winner in the past but nothing of this magnitude, according to Dehoff.