Store owner which sold $1 billion Powerball ticket says woman in video claiming to be winner is lying
His store did sell the winning billion dollar ticket but he contests the viral video
The owner of the store that sold the incredible winning Powerball ticket that will land a lucky someone $1.08 billion has said that the woman in the viral video claiming she won is lying.
It's one of the largest lottery prizes in history and the sort of life changing money people dream about, however, it can sometimes not be such a good thing as some lottery winners have unfortunately found.
While pretty much everyone would love to have a billion dollar Powerball winning ticket one person does, with the Las Palmitas Mini Market in Southern California selling it on 19 July.
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A video of a woman celebrating outside the store has gone viral as she claimed to be the lucky winner of the life changing sum.
However, the owner of the store has put some doubt on whether she genuinely is the lucky winner as, according to Insider, their granddaughter told them that the actual winner hadn't yet come forward.
Store owner Nabor Herrera had previously said that he thought the woman's display of joy and emotion 'was fake' as he didn't remember her buy a ticket, though other members of his family think she's a relative of the person who did buy the winning ticket.
Whoever the lucky lottery winner is they'll have to do more than get emotional outside the right store to prove they have the winning ticket.
California Lottery have also clamped down on any speculation about the identity of the winner.
"Anybody claiming to be the winner isn’t valid until we say it is,” spokesperson Carolyn Becker said at a press conference outside the mini mart on Thursday (20 July) morning.
There is a long confirmation process for the person with the billion dollar ticket, which starts with winners submitting a claim form.
With so many stages to the process, it can take months to verify the identity of the ticket owner, check security camera footage and complete all the necessary checks.
The winner gets to choose whether to take the money as a lump sum, though in some lotteries, the lump sum is lower, or receive the money in regular instalments.
What we do know is that Herrera's store is indeed the place that the winning ticket was sold and that's very good news for him.
The store that sells the winning ticket gets 0.5 percent of the prize fund, up to a maximum of a million dollars.
With over a billion dollars having been won, that means he'll get the million bucks and he's said he plans to take his family on vacation with it.
Joe Harker