SALEM, Oregon (AP) — One of the winners of the historic $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has been battling cancer for eight years and received his last chemotherapy treatment last week.
Cheng "Charlie" Saephan, from Portland, said at a press conference held by the Oregon Lottery that he and his wife, Duanpen, would split the prize equally with a friend who contributed $100 to buy a batch of tickets with them, Laiza Chao. They are accepting a lump sum payment of $422 million after taxes.
"I will be able to support my family and my health," he said, and added that "I will find a good doctor for myself."
He said that, as a cancer patient, he wondered: “How will I have time to spend all this money? How long will I live?.”
After buying the shared tickets, Chao sent a photo of the tickets to Saephan and said, "We are millionaires." It was a joke before the actual draw, he said, but the next day it came true.
The winning Powerball ticket was sold in early April at a Plaid Pantry store in Portland, ending a winless streak that had lasted for over three months. The Oregon Lottery said that it had to go through a security and verification process before announcing the identity of the person who came forward to claim the prize.
According to Oregon law, with few exceptions, lottery winners cannot remain anonymous. Winners have one year to claim the jackpot.
The jackpot has a cash value of 621 million dollars before taxes if the winner chooses to receive a lump sum instead of an annuity paid over 30 years, with an immediate payment followed by 29 annual installments. The prize is subject to federal and state taxes in Oregon.
The $1.3 billion prize is the fourth largest Powerball jackpot in history and the eighth largest among U.S. jackpot games, according to the Oregon Lottery.
The largest American lottery prize won was $2.04 billion in California in 2022.