A lucky Powerball winner from Oregon has walked away with a massive $1.3 billion Powerball prize.
Cheng ‘Charlie’ Saephan, 46, of Portland, spoke at a news conference Monday and shared his excitement and gratitude for winning the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history earlier this month.
Saephan, an immigrant from Laos who has been battling cancer for eight years, will share the $1.3 million prize with his wife Duanpen, 37, and friend Laiza Chao, 55.
Chao contributed $100 to buy a set of tickets with the couple. After taxes, the trio has received a lump sum payment of $422 million.
“I had a feeling and said, ‘I can win it, I can win it,’ but I didn’t think I was going to win this much,” Saephan said.
The father of two said he plans to spend the money on his family and “find a good doctor” for himself. He received his last chemotherapy treatment last week.
Cheng ‘Charlie’ Saephan, 46, of Portland, was featured as one of three Powerball winners after the winning ticket was drawn earlier this month. He, his wife and a friend of his won $1.3 billion.
Saephan, his wife Duanpen, 37, and their friend Laiza Chao, 55, will share the prize. Chao contributed $100 to buy a set of tickets with the couple.
In the weeks leading up to the drawing, Saephan said he wrote the game numbers on a piece of paper and slept with it under his pillow.
He prayed that he would win and said, “I need help; I don’t want to die yet unless I have done something for my family first.”
The trio purchased the winning ticket with the numbers 22-27-44-52-69 and a Powerball of 9 at a Plaid Pantry convenience store in Portland.
After purchasing the shared tickets, Chao sent a photo of the tickets to Saephan and told him, “We are billionaires.”
At the time, it was a joke before the actual draw, but the next day they won.
Chao was on her way to work when Saephan called her to tell her the news: “You don’t have to go anymore,” he told her.
Both Chao and Duanpen opted not to be on camera for the winner announcement. Under state law, with few exceptions, lottery players cannot remain anonymous. Winners have one year to claim the jackpot.
Saephan said he also called his mother and told her about the new riches he had found.
‘I called my mom. “Mom, we are rich!” She says, “Rich? How rich?” I say: “Really delicious!”‘
Saephan is an immigrant from Laos who has been battling cancer for eight years. He received his last chemotherapy treatment last week. (pictured: a collage of photographs of him receiving chemotherapy)
The trio purchased the winning ticket with the numbers 22-27-44-52-69 and a Powerball of 9 at a Plaid Pantry convenience store in Portland.
As a cancer patient, Saephan said he worried when he won: “How am I going to have time to spend all this money?” How long will I live?
It is not clear what type of cancer he has. She has been living with a disability, according to CBS News.
In a Facebook post, Saephan posted a photo of himself smiling widely with the huge check over his head.
‘I just want to thank you all for the congratulatory calls and texts. One ticket is all it takes,” she wrote.
‘I can no longer contain this blessing. This is like a dream come true for us. I will support families who also dream of financial liberation.’
Saephan was born in Laos and moved to Thailand in 1987 at the age of 10, before immigrating to the United States in 1994.
At the news conference he wore a sash identifying him as Iu Mien, a Southeast Asian ethnic group with roots in southern China.
Many Iu Mein were subsistence farmers and helped American forces during the Vietnam War. After the conflict, thousands of Iu Mien families fled to Thailand to avoid reprisals and eventually settled in the United States.
He graduated high school in 1996 and has lived in Portland for 30 years. He worked as a machinist for an aerospace company.
‘I can no longer contain this blessing. This is like a dream come true for us. “I will support families who also dream of financial liberation,” Saephan said in a Facebook post.
Saephan was born in Laos and moved to Thailand in 1987 at the age of 10, before immigrating to the US in 1994 (pictured: a collage of photographs of him when he was younger labeled “When I was healthy”).
Under state law, with few exceptions, lottery players cannot remain anonymous. Winners have one year to claim the jackpot.
‘I love Oregon. I’ve been here 30 years, so I love Oregon. “I’m not moving, I’m staying in Oregon,” he said at the press conference.
The Oregon Lottery said it had to go through a security and verification process before announcing the identity of the person who came forward to claim the prize.
The jackpot had a cash value of $621 million before taxes if the winner opted to receive a lump sum instead of an annuity Paid over 30 years, with an immediate payment followed by 29 annual installments.
Prize is subject to federal and state taxes in Oregon.
The $1.3 billion prize is the fourth Powerball jackpot in history and the eighth largest among U.S. jackpot games, according to the Oregon Lottery.
