How it feels to win the U.S. Powerball

US media over the weekend carried the story of New Jersey accountant Tayeb Souami’s $302 million win on the Powerball lottery, revealing that it all started by chance when he bought what his wife felt was an overpriced bottle of orange juice from a convenience store.

Returning the product, a Powerball poster advertising the latest jackpot caught his eye; the number appealed to him and he decided to spend the money saved on returning the orange juice on two numbers.

It was a decision that revolutionised the 55-year-old accountant’s life, enabling him to turn around a mortgage re-finance he had just taken to send his daughter to college.

On the day after the draw, on his way to have his car washed, Souami stopped off at a convenience store to check his numbers, and when the machine advised that one of his tickets ‘Must be seen by the retailer,’ he asked the counter clerk to check as he thought the machine was faulty.

When the clerk ran the ticket and started uttering a series of “Oh My Gods” his heart started beating and his adrenalin surged – he had bested 292.2 million to one odds to win the $302 million jackpot. His winning numbers were 3, 6, 9, 17, 56 and the Powerball 25.

Souami elected to take the $183 million cash pay-out and remain in his New Jersey home town. He has resigned from his job to handle his new fortune, and says he’ll pay off his recently refinanced home, pay for his daughter’s college tuition and pay off his own college loans.

Watch his press conference on the big win here:

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