Indianapolis - A retired auto worker and his two adult children have claimed the $314 million Powerball jackpot from the Aug. 25 drawing. The winning ticket was sold at a Speedway convenience store in Richmond, about 60 miles east of Indianapolis.
The Hoosier Lottery held a news conference Monday afternoon to announce that David Coterel, Lyn Hiles and David Coterel Jr., a father, daughter and son, respectively, will accept $145 million (before taxes) in a lump sum cash payout.
The elder Coterel, 65, who is retired from General Motors, bought the quick-pick ticket the afternoon of the drawing.
"I lost it," he said of learning he had the winning ticket. "I'm an emotional person, but I really lost it ... I know the world is going to turn upside down."
Coterel's daughter, Lyn Hiles, 46, worked for the Dayton Post Office for 17 years on the night shift and had just started training to work days when she found out the good news. She said it was difficult to bite her tongue while she worked a further two nights, and added that she has no plans to finish the training.
Hiles' brother, David Coterel Jr., 42, worked at a Delphi auto parts plant for 17 years and recently took a buy-out from his job. He described his work situation as "strictly downhill. "I'd already had enough of that place and when this came along, I thought - how long am I gonna give this place? At first I said two weeks, then I made it three days," he said.
Their father, David Coterel, is 65 and lives in Riverside, Ohio. Neither Hiles or Coterel Jr. has any children. Hiles said that their mother died three years ago from cancer.
Both Hiles and Coterel Jr. plan to buy a new car and plan on traveling, but beyond that, they haven't yet figured it out. Coterel said he hoped to donate some money to a charity that helps homeless people. Coterel Jr. said he'd like to acquire some land and buildings and possibly create some jobs.
The winning numbers in the drawing were 2, 8, 23, 29, 35 and Powerball 19.
The store where the winning ticket was sold is about 3 miles on U.S. 40 from another Speedway store that sold the winning ticket for a $295.7 million Powerball jackpot to a group of 13 co-workers from a factory in suburban Columbus, Ohio, in July 1998.
The 1998 jackpot was the largest of its kind to that point. Last month's jackpot is the fourth-largest in the 22-year history of the multistate Powerball game.
Ohio doesn't participate in the Powerball drawing, so Coterel had to cross state lines to hit the jackpot.
"I debated about pulling in there because I kept thinking about what are the odds of a Speedway hitting again, you know," Coterel said. "I wasn't even in the lane to turn in and I just whipped in there and stood in line a little bit and got the ticket."
Powerball is played in 29 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The record jackpot was $365 million won by eight workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant in February 2006.
