A West Allis man is the winner of the big Powerball jackpot last month.
24-year-old Manuel Franco appeared in Madison on Tuesday at Wisconsin Lottery headquarters to receive his prize. He says he bought the tickets that day because he was feeling lucky.
“I honestly felt so lucky, that I did look at the camera, and I really wanted to wink at it, because I had that lucky feeling, and I know Cindy has seen it, and she knows that it is true, that I did look up at that camera because I did feel lucky.”
As the conference, he apologized to New Berlin residents for getting their hope up that one of their own was the winner. Franco picked up the tickets at a New Berlin Speedway station March 27th.
Franco says he also took the time to get financial and legal planning in place before coming forward to claim his prize.
Franco will be taking the lump sum payment of $477 million dollars. The gas station in New Berlin will be receiving a payment, and Wisconsin will get its own share of property tax relief.
photo courtesy FOX 6 Milwaukee