(SALEM, Ore.) — One of many winners of a historic $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot final month is an immigrant from Laos who has had most cancers for eight years and had his newest chemotherapy therapy final week.
Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, of Portland, informed a information convention held by the Oregon Lottery that he and his spouse, Duanpen, would cut up the prize evenly with a good friend who chipped in $100 to purchase a batch of tickets with them, Laiza Chao. They’re taking a lump sum fee, $422 million after taxes.
“I will present for my household and my well being,” he mentioned, including that he’d “discover a good physician for myself.”
He mentioned that as a most cancers affected person, he questioned, “How am I going to have time to spend all of this cash? How lengthy will I reside?”
After they purchased the shared tickets, Chao despatched a photograph of the tickets to Saephan and mentioned, “We’re billionaires.” It was a joke earlier than the precise drawing, he mentioned, however the subsequent day it got here true.
The profitable Powerball ticket was offered in early April at a Plaid Pantry comfort retailer in Portland, ending a winless streak that had stretched greater than three months. The Oregon Lottery mentioned it needed to undergo a safety and vetting course of earlier than asserting the identification of the one who got here ahead to say the prize.
Underneath Oregon legislation, with few exceptions, lottery gamers can’t stay nameless. Winners have a yr to say the highest prize.
The jackpot has a money worth of $621 million earlier than taxes if the winner chooses to take a lump sum reasonably than an annuity paid over 30 years, with a direct payout adopted by 29 annual installments. The prize is topic to federal taxes and state taxes in Oregon.
The $1.3 billion prize is the fourth largest Powerball jackpot in historical past, and the eighth largest amongst U.S. jackpot video games, in response to the Oregon Lottery.
The most important U.S. lottery jackpot gained was $2.04 billion in California in 2022.
