Is this the Skid Row billionaire? Astonishing video shows sobbing woman show up to bodega in downtown LA that sold winning $1bn Powerball ticket crying ‘it’s me’
- Winning $1.08B ticket was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market in Los Angeles
- A woman in hysterics was filmed returning to the store claiming it was her
- Do you know who this woman is? Get in touch: [email protected]
A woman who claims to have won the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot has broken down in hysterics as she returned to the tiny down town Los Angeles convenience store where she bought the ticket.
Astonishing videos have emerged of the apparent newly-made billionaire sobbing and hyperventilating as she claimed to have scooped the colossal prize.
The jackpot is the third largest in Powerball history and was picked after three months of drawings without a winner.
Wearing a black cap with a denim jacket and bright green leggings, the California woman collapsed in tears at Las Palmitas Mini Market, which has been confirmed as the vendor of the winning ticket.
She screamed so loudly it could be heard for blocks around, according to reporters who had been waiting at the scene.
Astonishing videos have emerged of the newly-made billionaire sobbing and hyperventilating as she claimed to have scooped the colossal prize
California Lottery officials previously confirmed Las Palmitas Mini Market as the store where the winning ticket was sold, close to the homeless encampments on Skid Row and only 13 miles from the outlet where Edwin Castro won $2.08 billion in November
The ecstatic woman even collapses on her knees at the doorway to the store at one point.
‘I’m scared right now, I’m so scared,’ she says, adding ‘God bless you’ while hugging several people in the store.
Stunned spectators watched her response while reporters tried to get answers.
When one journalist asks ‘are you the winner?’, the woman tearfully replies ‘yes’ before running down the street as she is pursued by cameras.
She can be heard saying ‘I need to find him’ as she makes a break for it, reportedly climbing into a dark BMW.
California Lottery officials previously confirmed Las Palmitas Mini Market as the store where the winning ticket was sold, and they are required to identify the claimant eventually for transparency reasons.
The tiny convenience store is just blocks from the homeless encampments of Skid Row, and its owner Nabor Herrera will receive a $1 million bonus from Powerball.
Herrera said he did not realize he’d sold the winning ticket until he arrived for work early Thursday and saw cameras camped out in front of the shop, which he initially though were for a movie scene.
‘I tell you, it’s a surprise for me, I didn’t know what it is — filming or what,’ the father of four told KTLA-TV.
Herrera, who has owned the store for seven years, said that he had no idea who purchased the winning ticket, adding that he’d sold lots of Powerball tickets in recent days, mostly to locals from the neighborhood.
The jackpot is the third largest in Powerball history and was picked after three months of drawings without a winner
The shopkeeper said he planned to use his $1 million seller bonus to expand his business, and perhaps take his family on a ‘one week’ vacation to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.
His store is also just 13 miles from the outlet where Edwin Castro won $2.08 billion in November.
This week’s Powerball winner has a year to come forward, and it is not unusual for big jackpot winners to wait weeks or even months to claim the prize, as they assemble a team of financial and legal advisors.
The winner can choose either the total $1.08 billion paid out in yearly increments for 29 years, or a $558.1 million, one-time lump sum before taxes.
The winning numbers for Wednesday night’s drawing were: white balls 7, 10, 11, 13, 24 and red Powerball 24.
