“Bingo!” Declares the $150.4m Powerball Winner

“BINGO!” DECLARES THE $150.4M POWERBALL WINNER

Steven Nickell from Salem in Oregon, USA, doesn’t always check his lottery tickets right away. That explains how he managed to walk around with a $150.4m winning Powerball ticket for two weeks without having a clue he was a multi-millionaire.His big win came in the June 20 Powerball draw and his winning numbers were 04-14-23-27-56 and the Powerball 13. It wasn’t until July 1 after eating a burger for lunch that he decided to check his Powerball tickets.He was surprised when the clerk told him that he needed to go to the Oregon Lottery office because he’d won at least $600. At that point he thought to himself that he “could buy my wife something nice for the Fourth of July. I had no idea that the ticket was worth $150m.”A couple from Canberra in Australia took four days before finding out they had won a $20m Saturday Lotto prize. That’s nothing compared to the New York syndicate that took four months before claiming their $1m Mega Millions win.  Recently in Australia, a player took nearly five months to come forward to accept a $55m Australian Powerball jackpot.When returning home Nickell checked the Powerball results online to see how much he’d won and was shocked to find out he was the $150.2m Powerball jackpot winner. He actually felt a bit guilty over how much he had won but then had second thoughts. “I realized that I’m the guy that gets to stand up and say ‘Bingo!’ We all play the game, it just so happens I’m the guy who got to win this time.”In Michigan, USA, Bhavik Patel waited for his father to visit him before checking his lottery tickets and found out he’d won $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life draw.Steven has decided to accept his Powerball winnings as a one-off payment of $61m after taxes. He’s already hired a financial planner and a lawyer. The main thing the Powerball winner wants to do with his massive windfall is to take care of his wife and daughter. Bill Blokhuizen and Jerri Briggs from Western Canada, said the best thing about their $500,000 Lotto Max win was the financial freedom that it gave them.The delighted Powerball winner has lived in Salem all his life but has not reached a decision on whether he will stay there after his Powerball win.For your chance of becoming next winner, purchase your tickets online at Lottery24.com.