Seventy year old Donald Damon is the latest winner of the Powerball lottery and he was very surprised to hear that he had won, especially when he found out how much. At first Damon thought he might had won around $20 million not the $96.9 million jackpot. But surprisingly to him, Damon had won the top Powerball prize.

Damon said he didn’t believe he had won and he nearly fell on the floor. The jackpot win came at a perfect time for the Damon family. Damon was forced to retire this past January from his job as a truck driver; his daughter had lost her job at a hospital and Damon’s wife Kathleen has had to work three jobs to pay the bills.

Damon commented: “I can’t believe it. That’s a lot of money. Talk to the man up there. He took care of me.” Damon purchased his winning ticket at the Dillon’s store in Great Bend just seven hours before the drawing took place. Damon says he usually waits just hours before the drawing to buy the ticket.

Damon has decided to take the prize in one lump sum which would be $33.8 million. Some of the money will be going to the family’s churches and some will help those who need help due to the economic downturn. The rest of the money will be used on the Damon family, traveling to places they would like to see that they could not afford in the past.




- 2009-11-16