Yahoo News Store Gets $1M Prize for Selling $1.76B Powerball Jackpot Ticket — How Co-Owner Will Spend the Money
Nidal "Andy" Khalil, who co-owns Frazier Park's Midway Market & Liquor with his brother, plans to use the prize to help send his kids to college
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Store co-owner Nidal Khalil, center, goes over the previous day's lottery ticket sales with nephew Chris Khalil, left, and son Jonathan Khalil, right, at the Midway Market & Liquor store.The still-unidentified Powerball winner in Southern California this week isn't the only person reaping the benefits of the $1.76 billion jackpot — the owners of the liquor store where the winning ticket was purchased will too.
Nidal "Andy" Khalil, who has co-owned Frazier Park's Midway Market & Liquor store with his brother since 1994, won a $1 million prize after one of their customers hit the jackpot on Wednesday, per The New York Post, ABC affiliate KABC-TV and The Los Angeles Times.
Though the person who won the jackpot has yet to come forward, Khalil is clear with his plans for the money. "I want to make sure my kids have enough funds for college," he told KABC-TV.
Khali told the Post that he was stunned when he found out one of his customers won. "I didn’t even believe it at first," he added, sharing that he thinks it's the "biggest thing that’s ever happened at Frazier Park" — a small community of about 2,500 people in Kern County, located about an hour outside of Los Angeles.
The Syrian man — who came to California in 1992, according to the Los Angeles Times — told the Post he hopes the winner is one of his "regular customers because we have a few who buy tickets every day.”
“After 30 years of selling those tickets, we need a winner," he told the newspaper. The community is mostly made up of retirees and veterans, reported the Associated Press.
Related: Colo. Man Wins 2 $1M Powerball Tickets in the Same Day While Playing Same Set of Numbers
While lottery rules on claiming prizes vary from state to state, allowing some winners to remain anonymous — in California, the lucky player will eventually have to reveal their name.
"We won't know who that person is — or maybe it's a group of friends or family members who play together — until they come forward," said California Lottery spokesperson Carolyn Becker, per KABC-TV.
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The single ticket matched all six numbers drawn: white balls 22, 24, 40, 52, 64 and red Powerball 10. The Power Play multiplier was 2X.
According to the Times, the win at Khalil’s store is the third billion-dollar jackpot won in Southern California in the last year and the second-largest Powerball prize in history.
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