REVEALED: Tiny convenience store near LA's Skid Row where winning $1BN ... trends now
A tiny Los Angeles convenience store just blocks from the homeless encampments of Skid Row has been revealed as the location where the winning Powerball ticket was sold.
The winning $1.08 billion ticket in Wednesday's drawing was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market, whose owner will receive a $1 million bonus, California Lottery officials confirmed.
Store owner Nabor Herrera said he did not realize he'd sold the winning ticket until he arrived for work early Thursday and saw cameras camped out in front of the shop, which he initially though were for a movie scene.
'I tell you, it's a surprise for me, I didn't know what it is -- filming or what,' the father of four told KTLA-TV.
Herrera, who has owned the store for seven years, said that he had no idea who purchased the winning ticket, adding that he'd sold lots of Powerball tickets in recent days, mostly to locals from the neighborhood.
The shopkeeper said he planned to use his $1 million seller bonus to expand his business, and perhaps take his family on a 'one week' vacation to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.
The winning $1.08 billion ticket in Wednesday's drawing was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market, owned by shopkeeper Nabor Herrera (above) who will get a $1 million retailer bonus
The winning $1.04 billion ticket in Wednesday's drawing was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market, whose owners will receive a $1 million bonus
The Powerball winner has a year to come forward, and it is not unusual for big jackpot winners to wait weeks or even months to claim the prize, as they assemble a team of financial and legal advisors.
The winner can choose either the total $1.08 billion paid out in yearly increments for 29 years, or a $558.1 million, one-time lump sum before taxes. The winning numbers for Wednesday night's drawing were: white balls 7, 10, 11, 13, 24 and red Powerball 24.
On the Google Maps page for Herrera's convenience store, scores of comments were left congratulating the shopkeeper and the unidentified jackpot winner.
'I know whoever won tonight truly needed a blessing...hope this humble location expands with the seller bonus,' one person commented.
Another speculated that the jackpot winner might be living on the streets of Skid Row, commenting that they could be going 'from a tent to Hidden Hills,' an exclusive gated community in the Santa Monica Mountains.
By twist of fate, this week's winning ticket was sold just 13 miles from the convenience store where Powerball winner Edwin Castro purchased his ticket for November's $2.04 billion jackpot -- the largest in US history.
California requires lottery winners to reveal their names when they claim prizes, a measure designed to protect the integrity of drawings through transparency.
But for lottery winners, the publicity can bring unwelcome attention -- as Castro found when he was sued by a man who claimed to be the true owner of the winning
