Vladimir Putin
03-26-2013, 04:05 AM
The (New Jersey) Bergen Record, Monday, March 25, 2013, 6:57pm EDT
POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER IS PASSAIC BODEGA OWNER PEDRO QUEZADA
By MONSY ALVARADO, MICHAEL LINSHORST and JIM NORMAN, Bergen Record Staff Writers
The winner of the $338 million Powerball lottery is a 44-year old immigrant who owes a Passaic convenience store.
Pedro Quezada of Passaic, who owns Apple Deli and Grocery on 8th Street, came into Eagle Liquors on Passaic Street just after 4 p.m. to claim the huge prize. Quezada, 44, a father of five, stopped into the liquor store once a day to buy lottery tickets before he hit the $338 million prize.
“I’m very happy,” he said in Spanish. He said his first order of business is to help his family.
“I still can’t believe it,” said his wife, Ines Sanchez, who said her husband called her with the news this afternoon. “We never expected it, but thank God.”
The lump sum payout would be $211 million, amounting to about $152 million after state and federal taxes, New Jersey Lottery Executive Director Carole Hedinger said at a press conference Monday morning.
The numbers drawn were 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31.
In addition to the $338 million jackpot, one second-prize ticket was sold in New Jersey. That ticket, worth $1 million, was sold at a 7-Eleven in Mahwah. The state lottery did not say whether that winner has come forward.
With news of the winner’s identity the neighborhood around Eagle Liquors on Passaic Street came alive. Patrons huddled under awnings tried to keep up with an onslaught of questions from reporters desperate to find Quezada, while people coming out of stores hollered to each other about the sudden fortune to befall one of their own.
“Hey Charlie,” one man yelled to another outside a barbershop. “Why wasn't it you that won all that money?”
The fervor continued around Quezadas apartment building on School Street.
“I'm living next to a millionaire!” a woman announced from her doorway.
Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is about 1 in 175 million.
Sunil Sethi, 51, owner of Eagle Liquors, said lottery officials informed him when he opened at 9 a.m. that his store had sold the jackpot winner.
“We sold a lot of winners before,” he said. “Last year we had a winner for $156,000. We never had a winner this big. Maybe $30,000 or $40,000. We are one of the luckiest stores around here.”
More than $41 million worth of Powerball tickets were sold in New Jersey ahead of Saturday’s drawing, Hedinger said. Eagle Liquors will receive a $10,000 commission for selling the winning ticket.
Lottery tickets do a brisk business at Eagle Liquors, where one employee, Pravin Mankodia, 67, does nothing but sell tickets six days a week, from opening until closing.
Asked if he was selling more tickets Monday, Mankodia replied, “Ehhhhh,” and shrugged his shoulders, “not so much.”
But word was spreading among customers.
Elsa Ramirez, who runs the live poultry store two doors from Eagle Liquors, is a regular there. “I spend $50 a day on the lottery,” she said. “Last year I won $20,000, but you can see I’m still here with the chickens.”
“Do I think I’ll be lucky?” said Willie Mateo, 56, of Passaic. “Yes, I do. This is a lucky store.”
The cardboard “Lucky Location, play here” sign that dangles over the lottery ticket counter at Eagle Liquors was provided by the lottery commission because the store “sold a winning ticket in the past,” said Judith Drucker, a commission spokeswoman.
Another customer Michel DeLillo, 51, offered congratulations to the jackpot winner and some advice.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she said. “Get out of the neighborhood.”
DeLillo said if she ever wins the jackpot, she would “help a lot of people … and animals, especially cats.”
For others buying tickets, the thought of winning a jackpot was the stuff of dreams as well as doing right by the community.
“I love it here, but if I had the money I’d go back to South Carolina and retire,” said James Brown, 56.
The neighborhood around Eagle Liquors is gritty and industrial, with small groceries, restaurants and the live poultry market down the block.
Diomedes Minaya, a candidate running for Passaic mayor in the May 14 election, said he would have split the money if he had won — “a little for yourself, and a little goes back to the community.”
Douglas Frederick, 50, of Passaic, said he comes in to Eagle Liquors twice a day to buy tickets — scratch games in the morning and Pick 3 in the afternoon. He’s won several times in the past, usually around $100 or $300.
“I wish I could win the big one,” he said. “I would still stay here. I would represent my community. We need to have it built up a little better.
“I would like to open up a gym around here so that the kids could have someplace to go instead of being out here on the street. That’s the most important.”
Lottery winners often take time before claiming their prize, Hedinger said, so they can speak to financial advisors and prepare for the avalanche of wealth and public attention.
“I would advise them to seek professional advice ... and take their time to figure out what they’re going to do,” she said. Lottery winners can take up to one year before claiming their prizes.
“Whoever they are, they should sign the back of that ticket immediately and put it in a safe place. They can take it to any New Jersey Lottery retailer and have it validated,” Hedinger said.
Once a winner comes forward, though, they will enter the public eye. The names and hometowns of people who win the lottery are public records in New Jersey. A bill is moving through the state Legislature to allow winners to stay anonymous for up to one year, but it has not yet become law.
Copyright © 2013 North Jersey Media Group
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q749/transfan1/Pedro_Quezada_zps41b7155c.jpg
(Bergen Record/Chris Pedota) Pedro Quezada at Eagle Liquors in Passaic, New Jersey Monday, March 25.
POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER IS PASSAIC BODEGA OWNER PEDRO QUEZADA
By MONSY ALVARADO, MICHAEL LINSHORST and JIM NORMAN, Bergen Record Staff Writers
The winner of the $338 million Powerball lottery is a 44-year old immigrant who owes a Passaic convenience store.
Pedro Quezada of Passaic, who owns Apple Deli and Grocery on 8th Street, came into Eagle Liquors on Passaic Street just after 4 p.m. to claim the huge prize. Quezada, 44, a father of five, stopped into the liquor store once a day to buy lottery tickets before he hit the $338 million prize.
“I’m very happy,” he said in Spanish. He said his first order of business is to help his family.
“I still can’t believe it,” said his wife, Ines Sanchez, who said her husband called her with the news this afternoon. “We never expected it, but thank God.”
The lump sum payout would be $211 million, amounting to about $152 million after state and federal taxes, New Jersey Lottery Executive Director Carole Hedinger said at a press conference Monday morning.
The numbers drawn were 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31.
In addition to the $338 million jackpot, one second-prize ticket was sold in New Jersey. That ticket, worth $1 million, was sold at a 7-Eleven in Mahwah. The state lottery did not say whether that winner has come forward.
With news of the winner’s identity the neighborhood around Eagle Liquors on Passaic Street came alive. Patrons huddled under awnings tried to keep up with an onslaught of questions from reporters desperate to find Quezada, while people coming out of stores hollered to each other about the sudden fortune to befall one of their own.
“Hey Charlie,” one man yelled to another outside a barbershop. “Why wasn't it you that won all that money?”
The fervor continued around Quezadas apartment building on School Street.
“I'm living next to a millionaire!” a woman announced from her doorway.
Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is about 1 in 175 million.
Sunil Sethi, 51, owner of Eagle Liquors, said lottery officials informed him when he opened at 9 a.m. that his store had sold the jackpot winner.
“We sold a lot of winners before,” he said. “Last year we had a winner for $156,000. We never had a winner this big. Maybe $30,000 or $40,000. We are one of the luckiest stores around here.”
More than $41 million worth of Powerball tickets were sold in New Jersey ahead of Saturday’s drawing, Hedinger said. Eagle Liquors will receive a $10,000 commission for selling the winning ticket.
Lottery tickets do a brisk business at Eagle Liquors, where one employee, Pravin Mankodia, 67, does nothing but sell tickets six days a week, from opening until closing.
Asked if he was selling more tickets Monday, Mankodia replied, “Ehhhhh,” and shrugged his shoulders, “not so much.”
But word was spreading among customers.
Elsa Ramirez, who runs the live poultry store two doors from Eagle Liquors, is a regular there. “I spend $50 a day on the lottery,” she said. “Last year I won $20,000, but you can see I’m still here with the chickens.”
“Do I think I’ll be lucky?” said Willie Mateo, 56, of Passaic. “Yes, I do. This is a lucky store.”
The cardboard “Lucky Location, play here” sign that dangles over the lottery ticket counter at Eagle Liquors was provided by the lottery commission because the store “sold a winning ticket in the past,” said Judith Drucker, a commission spokeswoman.
Another customer Michel DeLillo, 51, offered congratulations to the jackpot winner and some advice.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she said. “Get out of the neighborhood.”
DeLillo said if she ever wins the jackpot, she would “help a lot of people … and animals, especially cats.”
For others buying tickets, the thought of winning a jackpot was the stuff of dreams as well as doing right by the community.
“I love it here, but if I had the money I’d go back to South Carolina and retire,” said James Brown, 56.
The neighborhood around Eagle Liquors is gritty and industrial, with small groceries, restaurants and the live poultry market down the block.
Diomedes Minaya, a candidate running for Passaic mayor in the May 14 election, said he would have split the money if he had won — “a little for yourself, and a little goes back to the community.”
Douglas Frederick, 50, of Passaic, said he comes in to Eagle Liquors twice a day to buy tickets — scratch games in the morning and Pick 3 in the afternoon. He’s won several times in the past, usually around $100 or $300.
“I wish I could win the big one,” he said. “I would still stay here. I would represent my community. We need to have it built up a little better.
“I would like to open up a gym around here so that the kids could have someplace to go instead of being out here on the street. That’s the most important.”
Lottery winners often take time before claiming their prize, Hedinger said, so they can speak to financial advisors and prepare for the avalanche of wealth and public attention.
“I would advise them to seek professional advice ... and take their time to figure out what they’re going to do,” she said. Lottery winners can take up to one year before claiming their prizes.
“Whoever they are, they should sign the back of that ticket immediately and put it in a safe place. They can take it to any New Jersey Lottery retailer and have it validated,” Hedinger said.
Once a winner comes forward, though, they will enter the public eye. The names and hometowns of people who win the lottery are public records in New Jersey. A bill is moving through the state Legislature to allow winners to stay anonymous for up to one year, but it has not yet become law.
Copyright © 2013 North Jersey Media Group
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q749/transfan1/Pedro_Quezada_zps41b7155c.jpg
(Bergen Record/Chris Pedota) Pedro Quezada at Eagle Liquors in Passaic, New Jersey Monday, March 25.