CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Steven Wilson of Liverpool, Ohio, crossed the Ohio River for one of his many Powerball tickets, and on Wednesday night learned he was a millionaire.
The winning $1 million ticket was purchased from Chaney’s Service Station in Chester.
Wilson, who works in Pittsburgh, was still shocked at his good fortune when he claimed his check Thursday afternoon at the West Virginia Lottery headquarters in Charleston.
“I’m still in shock. As I’m standing here I’m still not knowing this is real,” he said at the news conference. “This helps out my family quite a bit. Just on a regular basis I continue to work every day and do what I’m already doing.”
Wilson intended to pay off student loans for both himself and his wife Nancy, as well as pay off the house of his late father. After that, he wanted to buy a house of his own after renting his entire life.
“Now this gives me the ability to actually buy a house and get where I need to be,” Wilson said.
Wilson, who spent $400 in tickets on the record $1.5 billion jackpot, described his reaction as he watched the news Wednesday night and discovered one of his many tickets had won.
“I turned the station on about 10:58. The news was getting ready to start. They just did the weather report,” he recalled. “I saw (the numbers) flash across the bottom of the screen and I (wrote) it down. I didn’t get to actually see them draw it, but I saw as soon as they posted it.”
Wilson said it took several minutes for him and his wife to go through every ticket they bought.
He said he bought all his tickets in West Virginia at the advice of his wife, who pointed out that Ohio rarely had any luck in the lottery.
In addition, five other winning tickets worth $50,000 were sold in West Virginia. The tickets were bought at Par Mar on Old East Grafton Road in Fairmont, the Speedway at Route 33 and Scott Lane in Scott Depot, Sheetz on Charles Town Road in Kearneysville, Sheetz on Courthouse Road in Princeton and the Loading Zone on Ridgecrest Road in Wheeling.