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American Morning
Kentucky Man Down On His Luck Can Forget About Many of His Worries
Aired August 27, 2001 - 11:08 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A Kentucky man down on his luck can forget about some of his worries. He apparently is one of America's newest millionaires, a winner in Saturday night's huge Powerball lottery drawing. Just four winning tickets were sold. They were sold in Kentucky, Minnesota, Delaware and New Hampshire. The jackpot in Saturday night's drawing: almost $300 million. One of those winning tickets was sold at Clark's Pump-N-Shop in Ashland, Kentucky.
David Edwards says he bought that ticket. Edwards is a divorced father who had lost his job. He and his fiancee talked with CNN earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID EDWARDS, POWERBALL WINNER: 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 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.
SHAWNA MADDUX, EDWARDS FIANCEE: My lucky honey.
EDWARDS: Well, I'm putting some back for our kids. Shawna has a couple of boys. I got a little girl. And all of those are going to get to go to college. We're going
(CROSSTALK)
MADDUX: I'm getting a Ferrari.
EDWARDS: She's getting a Ferrari.
Well, I'm hoping it'll make a change for us in a positive way. We're going to try to listen to some financial advisers, get the money invested to where that other future generations will have this money as well, not just us. We need a new house.
MADDUX: We need a new everything.
EDWARDS: We need a new everything, yes.
MADDOX: We're going to be the new improved David and Shawna.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Edwards says he's considering taking a lump sum cash payment. That's more than $41 million before taxes. His ticket still has to be validated by lottery officials.
There's also a lot of excitement in Rollinsford, New Hampshire. One of the four winning Powerball tickets was sold at a convenience store in the small town. It's near the Maine border.
CNN's Patty Davis joins us now from Rollinsford.
Good morning, Patty.
I'm sure it is a good morning where you are today.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Somebody is very happy in this area, but no one know yet quite who that is. Certainly the buzz around this small town, just who exactly owns that winning Powerball jackpot ticket here in New Hampshire.
As you said, it was sold at the store right behind me, the Cumberland Farms Convenience Store in Rollinsford. Now rumors are flying, but so far, no one has come forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, this is typical. Whenever you have a jackpot, everybody starts guessing who it is, where they may be from, could very well be from the small community of Rollinsford, could be over the line in Maine, or it could be somebody passing through town. Nobody knows.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIS: Now as you said, this store is right on the border with Maine, just a stone's throw other side of that store. The store itself gets $30, 000 for selling that winning ticket. The winner, however, collecting a whopping $74 million. Now lottery officials say it is not unusual that we haven't seen a winner come forward. Their experience with other big Powerball winners and other lotto jackpot winners shown a week, as much as 10 days. In fact, they encourage that. They are telling this winner, whoever that may be, make sure you have your ducks in a row, that you've seen an attorney, you've signed your ticket, that you have it stashed in a safe place, and that you've gotten some financial advice before you go public and come to them -- Daryn. KAGAN: And, Patty, in New Hampshire, you don't even have to come forward publicly, do you?
DAVIS: You don't. Actually, you do in a sense that you can form a trust and have your lawyer say come forward and claim the prize for you, but you can remain anonymous in that sense, in the state of New Hampshire.
Now whoever is going to claim the ticket has up to a year to do so, and then they have up to 60 days from the date they claim the prize to say whether they want an annuity, being maybe taking $2.9 million over 25 years for every year, or they can take a $41 million cash lump sum. Of course taxes after that -- Daryn.
KAGAN: A nice decision to have to make, huh, Patty.
DAVIS: Absolutely.
KAGAN: Good to see you. Thank you.
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