An American player won a jackpot of 44 million dollars (40M euros)… which he has still not received.
Californian from Orange County, Jerry, in his sixties, is the lucky winner of the Powerball lottery on August 19.
The American checked several times, his numbers (1, 2, 15, 23, 28 and the red Powerball 10, his lucky number) are indeed those which were drawn that evening allowing him to win the jackpot of 44 million dollars (approximately 40 million euros).
“It was exciting because you don’t expect to hit all six numbers,” he exclaimed to CNN. “Six numbers in the Powerball is a rare chance… There is a greater chance of dying before, by being struck by lightning,” he laughs today.
But if Jerry's joy was immense on that evening of August 19, since then, he has been somewhat worried. And yet, he quickly came forward to the lottery services. But, two months later, he still hasn't had a single cent of this jackpot…
And the new millionaire criticizes the slowness of the lottery verification process to ensure that the supposed winner is indeed the one who should hit the jackpot.
Long checks
While the lottery carries out all the checks (in particular to ensure that the winner does not owe money to the State), Jerry remains “sitting, waiting every day” for the phone call that will announce that he has received the entire 44 million dollars. The good news is that Jerry will have had time to figure out what he will do with the money first…
This isn't the first time a Powerball player's winnings have been delayed or outright denied. So, last February, L'Indépendant recalled the story of John who sued the Powerball lottery. His numbers were indeed those displayed on the lottery website. But the organizers pleaded “human error”. The numbers drawn that day were not those that Powerball displayed on its website…
The chances of winning the Powerball jackpot are astronomical, of the order of 1 chance in 292,201,338. Jerry was right… The chances of being struck by lightning are 1 in 1 million…
