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American Morning

Officials from Multistate Powerball Lottery Hoping to Hear from Game's Newest Millionaires

Aired August 27, 2001 - 10:05   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Official with the multistate Powerball lottery are hoping to hear from the game's newest millionaires. Four winning tickets are going to splitting up the estimated jackpot of $295 million.

Now one person has already stepped forward, a man in Kentucky, and he's had a handful of numbers and a new life within reach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID EDWARDS, POWERBALL WINNER: I always pick, like, anniversaries, birthdays, things like that. I did that on my first three lines, and then on the fourth line, I decided to just look at the numbers and let the numbers sort of pick me. And as I looked down at the numbers, whatever come to mind, that's what I picked, and that's what I ended up winning on.

I've been telling this story now for a day and a half. But at the time, I only had three more unemployment checks left, and I didn't have any medical insurance and I needed an operation on my back, and my back against the wall; I was pretty desperate, and yes, literally. I've been laid off in telecommunications market now for about three more moneys, and I only had three more checks coming in, didn't know what I was going to do after that. And so my only hope at that point, was, hey, why not? It's up to $280 billion. Let's give it a shot?

I'm hoping to make a change in a positive way. We're going to try to listen to some financial advisers, get the money invested so that other future generations will have this money as well, not just us. We need a new house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need new everything.

We are going to be the new improved David and Shawna (ph).

EDWARDS: We're going to wait until we get the lottery money, and then at that point, we can go anywhere in the world and do it, and fly our friends there as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I can see the lines forming at the mall now.

All right, let's now move on to New Hampshire, where one of the winning tickets were sold.

CNN's Patty Davis is outside this convenience store in Rollinsford.

Good morning, Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

Well, the store that sold that winning ticket apparently to David Edwards, as he claims, although that's not been verified yet, stands to reap some $450,000 in Kentucky. But here in New Hampshire, the Cumberland farm store you see behind me, a convenience store, which lottery officials say did sell the winning ticket here in this state stands to reap only $30,000. That's a big differences, but it's capped under New Hampshire law.

Now the winner here in this state not come forward yet to take in his or her big jackpot. There are $74 million. That's a quarter of the $295 million jackpot. Certainly the talk of this tiny town, is it someone from New Hampshire? Is it someone from Maine? No one knows. Maine just right over the border here, just a stone's throw from right behind where I'm standing. It could easily be somebody from that state. Nobody has come forward, and Maine doesn't have Powerball. Lottery officials said they would like to beat Kentucky to the punch and be able to announce a winner before Kentucky does. Kentucky says that it may hold a press conference as early as this afternoon. But at this point, it doesn't look like New Hampshire is going to make that cut. No one is saying that he or she won just yet -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, listen, let me ask you something, because I've just learned a little while ago that the folks, whoever that cash in in New Hampshire may actually have a special advantage that the other states don't have, correct?

DAVIS: They absolutely have a huge advantage. You know, when you win this we're talking 74 million, 41 million if you take lump sum, or $2.9 million over 25 years, but you still have to pay taxes on top of that. Federal taxes a big bite, almost 40 percent. But add state tax to that in most states, and it's another big bite. But in New Hampshire, there is no state tax, so you win in New Hampshire and you get a big break. Now if you are from Maine and you win this, you still have to pay state tax. So I guess the advantage here is, make sure you are from New Hampshire -- Leon.

HARRIS: OK. Let us know if you hear anybody screaming real loud, Patty. We'll get back to you later.

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