The owner of a downtown Los Angeles mini-market became an instant celebrity Thursday, having sold a $1 billion winning Powerball ticket to an as-yet-unidentified lottery player.
Nabor Herrera was greeted at work Thursday morning by an army of television cameras and reporters looking to gain insight on who may have purchased the winning ticket from Wednesday night’s drawing. But even better for him, Herrera will receive a $1 million bonus payment for selling the winning ticket.
He told reporters he plans to use the money to expand Las Palmitas Mini Market, which is located in the Fashion District steps from Skid Row. But he may also take a vacation, telling KTLA a trip to Cabo San Lucas or Cancun might be in his future.
“It’s a surprise for me,” Herrera — a father of four who has owned the shop for seven years — told the station about all the media attention that greeted him Thursday morning when he came to work.
It was still unknown who actually purchased the ticket. On Thursday morning, amid the crush of television cameras and media crowding around the store, a woman walked into the store yelling and claiming to be the winner, but she quickly got into her car and drove away, so it was uncertain if she really was holding the winning ticket.
Lottery officials note that people claiming to win the lottery are carefully vetted, so the identity of the winner likely won’t be known for some time.
Carolyn Becker of the California Lottery said winners must come forward to a state lottery office with the ticket, which must be verified.
“They have to claim their prize then we have to spend time vetting the winner to make sure it is the right person,” she said. “Integrity and transparency are incredibly important to us, so we will probably not know for months and months. They have up to a year to come forward.”
She urged whoever holds the winning ticket to sign it on the back and keep it in a secure place, and to consult with legal and financial advisers to prepare for the sudden riches.
She also noted that the lottery “raised nearly $80 million for public schools just from this one game, just from the last three months.”
According to the California Lottery, the ticket sold at Herrera’s shop was the only one in the nation with all five numbers and the Powerball number in the multi-state lottery game.
The holder of the ticket purchased at Las Palmitas Mini Market has the option of receiving the $1.08 billion jackpot in 30 installments, or a lump sum payment of $558.1 million.
The jackpot was the sixth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot.
The numbers drawn Wednesday were 7, 10, 11, 13, 24 and the Powerball number was 24.
The drawing was the 39th since the last time a ticket with all six numbers was sold.
There were 39 tickets sold with five numbers, but missing the Powerball number, including one each sold in La Puente, Northridge and the Westlake district, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game.
The ones sold in California are each worth $448,750.
The odds of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is 1 in 292.2 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game. The overall chance of winning a prize is 1 in 24.9.
The Powerball game is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
The jackpot for Saturday’s drawing will be $20 million.
In November, a record-breaking $2.04 billion Powerball winning ticket was sold at a service center in Altadena. The winner of that jackpot was identified only as Edwin G. Castro.