Brooklyn truck driver wins $298.3 million Powerball jackpot
A truck driver in Brooklyn is headed toward easy street after winning last month’s $298.3 million Powerball jackpot ― the second-largest in New York Lottery history.
David Johnson won the Dec. 26 jackpot with winning numbers 5-25-38-52-67 and Powerball 24. The 56-year-old Jamaican native didn’t even check to see if he had won until two days after the drawing.
“I got a call that the winning ticket was sold at the store where I buy my tickets,” Johnson told Powerball.com. “I went to the store and gave the ticket to the clerk to check. He scanned it and said, ‘Congratulations.’ I needed to see it for myself, so I scanned and saw it read BIG WINNER.”
Johnson purchased the ticket on Dec. 26 at Arnold’s Service Station on Linden Boulevard, about six miles west of John F. Kennedy International Airport, while stopping to fill up his truck during work. He spent $5 on the lottery at the gas station, including a single QuickPick Powerball ticket ― the winning one.
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When he found out he was going to be a multi-millionaire, “I was so happy,” he told CBS New York. “I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was jumping up and down.”
Johnson, a husband and a father, received his winnings Friday at Resort World Casino in Queens. He decided to take the lump sum of his winnings, which amounted to about $114 million after taxes.
Johnson told reporters he immediately quit his job and will use some of his fortune to buy a red Porsche and a new house in Brooklyn. He also hired an attorney to help him invest his millions, ABC 7 reported.
“Don’t get me wrong: The job pay good, but it’s hard work,” he told CBS New York. “I always wanted to quit and now I get the chance to quit.”
New Yorkers won the last three consecutive Powerball jackpots in 2018.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
