A lucky Oregon Powerball winner has claimed a whopping $1.3 billion Powerball prize.
Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, 46, of Portland, spoke at a press conference on Monday and shared his excitement and gratitude for winning the fourth largest jackpot in Powerball history earlier this month.
Saephan, an immigrant from Laos who has been battling cancer for eight years, will share the $1.3 billion prize with his wife Duanpen, 37, and their friend Laiza Chao, 55.
Chao donated $100 to purchase a batch of tickets with the couple. After taxes, the trio received a lump sum of $422 million.
“I had a feeling and said, ‘I can win it, I can win it,’ but I didn’t think I would win that big,” Saephan said.
The father of two said he plans to spend the money on his family and “find a good doctor” for himself. He had his last chemotherapy treatment last week.
Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, 46, of Portland, emerged as one of three Powerball winners after the winning ticket was drawn earlier this month. He, his wife and a friend won $1.3 billion
Saephan, his wife Duanpen, 37, and their girlfriend Laiza Chao, 55, will split the prize. Chao donated $100 to purchase a batch of tickets with the couple
In the weeks leading up to the drawing, Saephan said he wrote numbers for the game on a piece of paper and slept with it under his pillow.
He prayed that he would win and said, “I need help. “I don’t want to die yet unless I do something for my family first.”
The winning ticket with the numbers 22-27-44-52-69 and a Powerball of 9 on it was purchased by the trio at a Plaid Pantry supermarket in Portland.
After purchasing the shared tickets, Chao sent a photo of the tickets to Saephan and said, “We are billionaires.”
At the time it was a joke before the actual draw, but the next day they won.
Chao was on her way to work when Saephan called her with the news: “You don’t have to go anymore,” he said.
Both Chao and Duanpen chose not to appear on camera for the winner’s announcement. Under state law, lottery players cannot remain anonymous, with some exceptions. The winners have one year to claim the grand prize.
Saephan said he also called his mother and told her about his new-found riches.
‘I called my mother. “Mom, we’re rich!” She says, “Rich? How rich?” I say, “Really rich!”
Saephan is an immigrant from Laos who has been battling cancer for eight years. He had his last chemotherapy treatment last week. (photo: a collage of photos of him receiving chemotherapy)
The winning ticket with the numbers 22-27-44-52-69 and a Powerball of 9 on it was purchased by the trio at a Plaid Pantry supermarket in Portland
As a cancer patient, Saephan said that when he won, he worried, “How am I going to have time to spend all this money?” How long will I live?’
It is unclear what type of cancer he has. According to him, he lives on a disability CBS News.
In a Facebook post, Saephan posted a photo of himself smiling broadly with the huge check above his head.
‘I want to thank you all for the calls and congratulations. One ticket is enough,” he wrote.
“I can no longer contain this blessing. For us this is like a dream come true. I will support families who also dream of financial liberation.”
Saephan was born in Laos and moved to Thailand in 1987 at the age of 10, before emigrating to the US in 1994.
He wore a sash at the news conference and identified himself as Iu Mien, an ethnic group from Southeast Asia with roots in southern China.
Many Iu Mein were subsistence farmers and assisted the American forces during the Vietnam War. After the conflict, thousands of Iu Mien families fled to Thailand to avoid retaliation and eventually settled in the US.
He graduated from high school in 1996 and has lived in Portland for 30 years. He worked as a machinist for an aerospace company.
“I can no longer contain this blessing. For us this is like a dream come true. I will support families who also dream of financial liberation,” Saephan said in a Facebook post
Saephan was born in Laos and moved to Thailand in 1987 at the age of 10, before emigrating to the US in 1994. (photo: a collage of photos of him when he was younger, with the caption ‘When I was healthy’)
Under state law, lottery players cannot remain anonymous, with some exceptions. The winners have one year to claim the grand prize
“I love Oregon. I’ve been here 30 years, so I love Oregon. “I’m not moving, I’m staying in Oregon,” he said at the press conference.
The Oregon Lottery said it had to go through a security and vetting process before disclosing the identity of the person who came forward to claim the prize.
The jackpot had a cash value of $621 million before taxes if the winner chose to take a lump sum instead of an annuity paid over 30 years, with an immediate payout followed by 29 annual installments.
Price is subject to federal and Oregon state taxes.
The $1.3 billion prize is the fourth largest Powerball jackpot in history and the eighth largest among U.S. jackpot games, according to the Oregon Lottery.