$258M Powerball Winner: "Holy Moses!" - Convenience Store Clerk

A Missouri man who won a $258 million Powerball jackpot and plans to use some of the money to pay bills and take his children to Disney World says he hasn't decided yet if he'll quit his minimum wage job at the convenience store where he bought the winning ticket.

"You know, you never know," Chris Shaw told "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith Friday. "Everybody always says. I wouldn't,' or 'I would.' There's just so many things right now that run through your head, it's just like, you know - yesterday, if you would have asked me what I would have done with this kind of money, or two days ago, before I won it, I could have given a you million things. Now, I don't have any idea. I'm just flabbergasted!"

Shaw - a 29-year-old tattooed father of three who was raised by his grandparents in rural southern Missouri - came forward Thursday as the winner of the 10th-largest Powerball jackpot ever. Shaw said he had just $28.96 in his bank account and recently bought a 1998 Ford Ranger from a friend who agreed to let him pay off the $1,000 price $100 at a time. Now, he said, he no longer has to worry about how he'll pay his friend - or his utility bills.

"We didn't come from money. For us, it's just going to be a huge relief to know I'm going to be able to pay my electric bill, my gas bill," Shaw told the Associated Press. "It's like a weight lifted. I had bills at home I didn't know how they were going to be paid."

Shaw said he bought the $5 ticket Wednesday at the Break Time convenience store where he works in Marshall, a central Missouri town about 80 miles east of Kansas City. He accepted his ceremonial check at the Missouri Lottery headquarters in Jefferson City wearing a tan and red plaid shirt, a red hat and a huge grin - minus two front teeth he says he lost because he didn't take care of them but can now afford to have replaced.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/23/earlyshow/main6424648.shtml?tag=stack



Good for you Mr. Shaw. Spend it well. Only commment I have is that his age surprised me - he looks a lot older.

...my bet is he's a heavy smoker.

Wow, he has had a tough life.

and it shows --him minus all the teeth. It is so refreshing to see someone like this win a lottery. Usually, and they have a right to also, some business owner, some retired big shot etc win. This was such good news..the only better would be if I won

:eyes: not everyone can. (been watching too much "lottery changed my life"!)

In six months put his name and stripper into google news.


Anyway, who would go on national TV and put a giant bull's eye on your wallet?

I'm sure he doesn't want to be there!

Michigan gives you the option of remaining anonymous.

in New York you are required to make a media appearance as a condition to get your money.

claiming the money. protect yourself as much as you can. i would rather no one knew, but with that amount of money you probably couldn't keep it a secret anyway. i hope he is smart about it. plenty of stories about people who lose everything after winning the lottery.

If it ever happened to me, I'd hold the press conference at the airport and then jump on the next flight out of the country --- and stay gone for at least a month!

Even though I am good friends with the news director here of the main station. No way, no how. I'd be as anonymous as I could.

Dude's missing a couple of top teeth (probably couldn't afford the dentist work). I'll bet ya the money transforms him into someone more youthful and energetic. Hopefully he makes the most of it and won't make himself look (and probably feel) 50 for many years to come.

29 would be a great age to win that much. Lots of experience before you go on a spending spree to back you up, and many years to look forward to the payoff.

Good for him.

bad idea.

you administer the trust...with the aid of a good lawyer and a good accountant.

sP

i recommend moving to an isolated location (i would take any of a number of islands), leave no forwarding address and throw his phone away...

sP

...a world of hurt with 200 Million bucks.

seriously..he needs to hide, and fast.

LOTS of new "friends"!

A governor's aide won the lotto some years ago and there was an uproar. IL administrative code says you have to have your name and home town disclosed to the press. Trusts cannot cash a ticket. (I had to look this up once.)

Generally when you win the lottery, you agree to appear and have your name used. That's why some people wait to come forward.

This way if he screws up or gets swindled/robbed, he's not back selling slim-jims.

He'll need it.

Congrats to him. My friends won a couple of years ago, and it really did change their lives for the better. Of course, they were smart and invested a lot of it. Now he's starting up a record company, and she's studying veterinary medicine to open up a kennel.

Unfortunately, having all of that money has turned my friend's husband into a teabagger. :( I guess that, instead of an asshole, he's an asshole with money now.

from the sticks in the middle of the country. Not like there's anything wrong with that, but they should spread those winnings to the coasts (or more specifically... San Diego) sometime! :)

lotteries, expect more of these huge jackpots and that they get big quicker.

The most I ever won on these is $10 with the multiplier. I have far better luck on the slots and on scratchoffs.

Something about having a guy who sells and 'checks' the lottery tickets WIN the lottery raises an eyebrow. Not saying it's impossible, but neither is that someone else won and he stole the ticket. Don't know the guy. Just sayin, if I were on the state lottery commission I would look into it.

Clerks stealing winning tickets from people that have come back to check the ticket is more common than people realize. I think 20/20 or one of those programs did a story on NY lottery officials conductiing a sting against clerks. They would take a ticket that would come up as a winner on lottery computers and see if the clerk would steal it. Many did!

there's a little display that shows the winning amount to the customer as the ticket is scanned.

I am way too cynical, I suppose.

The way they check Powerball tickets in Missouri is through a scanner, one that is placed where either both the clerk and customer can see it, or where only the customer themselves can see it. It would be highly unlikely if the clerk could scan a ticket, have it come up a winner and the customer not know about it.

I mean, really.

I had just read a story about a similar event a few days ago.

This clerk was caught. I have to wonder how many never are.

Link: http://www.tampabay.com/news/canadian-store-owner-guilty-in-theft-of-575m-lottery-ticket/1088322

then I realized it was two different stories.

Well, same story underlying I guess

The lottery sent a security specialist to review our surveillance tapes to make sure the ticket was properly purchased and cashed.

I assure you they take this stuff very seriously simply to avoid the world of shit a suit would cause. It's all investigated to the nth degree.

close to the brink. Makes me happy.

It's good to see people who can really use the money get it.

I hope he's able to go hog wild for a while, invest the rest with good guidance, and take care of the people he knows who also have had a tough time of it.

It only ruins your life if you don't know who you are.

and he won't be happy, if other winners are any indication.

of lottery winners are fantastically happy, but you don't hear about them because "Happy Lottery Winner" is not exactly a story.

I guaran-goddamn-tee you can buy happiness.

Shoot, I'd BUY that damn store as my lucky charm.

I'd even let Jay and Silent Bob hang out front.

but...you can see how long it would take to get fired. :-) Think Office Space.


sP

:evilgrin:

I buy the tickets & this hangs in my office.

:D

I used to have this conversation with a friend, that lotteries, in general, draw money disproportionally from the poor.

His response, while clutching his ticket, was that he'd remember I said that when he won. :rofl:

And it is not legal here. I have to drive across the bridge to Louisiana to get a lotto ticket. I love the scratch offs. Another waste of money, but damned fun when I rarely win.

it's a tax on the stupid.

Unless they win. At that point they look much less stupid, admittedly.

so they can set up a blind trust to receive the winnings. And never go public with the info that you've won. If word gets out, head to the Bahamas for a few months till things quiet down.