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American Morning
Waiting for the Winner
Aired December 26, 2002 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: But a Powerball ticket, worth about $315, as you mentioned, was sold in Hurricane, West Virginia, and we're going to check in with our WSAZ reporter Doug Korstanje, who is there in Hurricane.
Doug, what have you got for us?
DOUG KORSTANJE, WSAZ CORRESPONDENT: Hey, this is a mom-and-pop convenience store. And if you've ever wondered what happens to a store that sells a winning ticket for $314 million, this is it: Powerball madness. All of the networks are here. Everybody wants to know who has the winning ticket. So far, that person has not come forward.
It was sold right here on this machine, Monday evening, about 7 o'clock. So everybody is trying to figure out was I in the store at that time? Did I buy the ticket then? Everybody is checking their tickets here in the community. You wouldn't believe, everybody from around the community has been coming in.
Now, Aaron Gilespie (ph) is a worker here at the store. He was the first one to find out this morning that the ticket has been sold here. How did you find out? It's kind of interesting story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, kind of. I was in the store and got a knock on the back door and opened it up. It was the Putnam County Sheriff, and he told me he needed to talk to me. I thought something bad might have happened or something. It kind of scared me, the police being here. But he asked me if I had sold any lottery tickets and I said, yes, we've sold a bunch of them. He said, well, you sold one worth $314 million. And I kind of just thought, OK, what? You know, I didn't know what was going on or it just didn't hit me, you know.
KORSTANJE: What was your reaction to the madness that's followed since then?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just crazy. I mean, it's -- I never thought I'd see anything like this in the store, but I don't know. I guess, we needed it.
KORTANJE: OK. Well, thank you very much for joining us. And the owner of the store is going to get $100,000 in cash for selling that winning ticket, but not until the winner comes forward with that $314 million ticket.
GUPTA: And Doug, do you have any idea how many tickets they actually sold at that particular store? There was a 1 in 120 million chance of winning. I wonder what that store -- how many they sold.
KORSTANJE: They're saying anywhere from 2 to 3,000 tickets, so a lot of people are checking their tickets right now. And they have some security video here, but they tell me that they don't have the video for Monday or they'd be checking it right now, to look at 7:14, when the ticket was sold, to see who has that ticket.
GUPTA: Wow. Well, everybody, check your numbers. I didn't buy one, so I don't know. Thank you very much, Doug.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 26, 2002 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: But a Powerball ticket, worth about $315, as you mentioned, was sold in Hurricane, West Virginia, and we're going to check in with our WSAZ reporter Doug Korstanje, who is there in Hurricane.
Doug, what have you got for us?
DOUG KORSTANJE, WSAZ CORRESPONDENT: Hey, this is a mom-and-pop convenience store. And if you've ever wondered what happens to a store that sells a winning ticket for $314 million, this is it: Powerball madness. All of the networks are here. Everybody wants to know who has the winning ticket. So far, that person has not come forward.
It was sold right here on this machine, Monday evening, about 7 o'clock. So everybody is trying to figure out was I in the store at that time? Did I buy the ticket then? Everybody is checking their tickets here in the community. You wouldn't believe, everybody from around the community has been coming in.
Now, Aaron Gilespie (ph) is a worker here at the store. He was the first one to find out this morning that the ticket has been sold here. How did you find out? It's kind of interesting story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, kind of. I was in the store and got a knock on the back door and opened it up. It was the Putnam County Sheriff, and he told me he needed to talk to me. I thought something bad might have happened or something. It kind of scared me, the police being here. But he asked me if I had sold any lottery tickets and I said, yes, we've sold a bunch of them. He said, well, you sold one worth $314 million. And I kind of just thought, OK, what? You know, I didn't know what was going on or it just didn't hit me, you know.
KORSTANJE: What was your reaction to the madness that's followed since then?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just crazy. I mean, it's -- I never thought I'd see anything like this in the store, but I don't know. I guess, we needed it.
KORTANJE: OK. Well, thank you very much for joining us. And the owner of the store is going to get $100,000 in cash for selling that winning ticket, but not until the winner comes forward with that $314 million ticket.
GUPTA: And Doug, do you have any idea how many tickets they actually sold at that particular store? There was a 1 in 120 million chance of winning. I wonder what that store -- how many they sold.
KORSTANJE: They're saying anywhere from 2 to 3,000 tickets, so a lot of people are checking their tickets right now. And they have some security video here, but they tell me that they don't have the video for Monday or they'd be checking it right now, to look at 7:14, when the ticket was sold, to see who has that ticket.
GUPTA: Wow. Well, everybody, check your numbers. I didn't buy one, so I don't know. Thank you very much, Doug.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
