$1m for Store Owner Who Sold $2.04bn Powerball Ticket

This week has seen the largest ever US lottery prize won. A ticket sold in California won the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot in the draw held on Tuesday November 8.

It’s not just the mystery winner who is celebrating their $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot win. The success is also good news for Joseph Chahayed who owns the store that sold the winning ticket. He’ll receive $1 million for doing so.

The 75-year-old owns Joe’s Service Center that is situated  in Altadena in  Los Angeles County, USA. He’s a father of five and grandfather of 11 who has lived in America since moving there from Syria in the 1980s.

Since news broke that his store had sold the record breaking Powerball ticket, he’s been at the centre of attention. That’s because the actual winner of the $2.04 billion jackpot has yet to come forward to claim their prize. That might take a while as some previous big winners in California have taken around two months to do that.

No retirement

Mr Chahayed may have won $1 million but he has no plans to retire. “I’m 75, still young. I will be here tomorrow at 6 o’clock. I love work,” said the store owner. He was seen wearing a California Lottery hat and also a matching T-shirt. The T-shirt read, ‘Millionaire Made Here.’

Of course if the Powerball winner decides to receive his winnings as an annuity, that T-shirt may have to be changed to ‘Billionaire Made Here.’

Who Won?

Who bought the winning Powerball ticket? The store owner has no idea who the lucky customer was. He’s just hoping that it was someone local. Plans for his $1 million Powerball bonus include helping his children.

His son Danny helps run the store. He also hopes the Powerball jackpot winner is a local person “so that way they know the struggles of the people around here and they can give back.”

The store owner has a famous relative. He’s the father-in-law of former Cincinnati Bengals NFL player Domata Peko.

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