Crowd swarms store that sold a winning Powerball ticket
California store will get $1M, Florida store gets $100,000, Tennessee store gets $25,000
CHINO HILLS, CALIF.— In a crowded parking lot and a packed 7-Eleven store at Chino Hills Parkway and Pipeline Ave. in suburban Los Angeles, residents and Powerball lottery players gathered late Wednesday chanting: “Chino Hills! Chino Hills! Chino Hills!”
This 7-Eleven, owned by Balbir Atwal, sold one of the winning tickets in Wednesday’s record $1.6-billion jackpot drawing. Atwal discovered from news reports that his store had sold the ticket, and his customers found out from the news, Facebook and Instagram. Not long after, a crush of people — and a cavalcade of hulking television news vans — showed up at his store and many didn’t leave until almost 11 p.m.
“I feel very good. Some lucky customer came here and made me famous,” said Atwal, who has owned the store since 1994 and owns three others, in Yorba Linda, Diamond Bar and La Habra.
Atwal, 57, will get a share — $1 million, minus some due the 7-Eleven corporation — a bonus for selling the ticket. He said he would use it to help his employees and help young people go to college.
In the meantime, Atwal offered a more modest gift to his customers: free Slurpees.
The scene in Chino Hills capped weeks of lottery fever as the Powerball jackpot built up to a historic high. Officials said there were three winning tickets, one each in California, Tennessee and Florida. The winning numbers were 4, 8,19, 27 and 34, with a Powerball of 10. The jackpot will be split among the winners.
None of the winners stepped forward to claim their share of the prize Thursday. The winning ticket in Florida was purchased at a Publix grocery store in Melbourne Beach, the Florida Lottery wrote on Twitter. Publix was “excited for the customer or customers who purchased the winning ticket,” spokesman Dwaine Stevens wrote in an email to the Washington Post.
“This is a life-changing amount of money, so we encourage the winner to take the time to get their affairs in order,” said Florida Lottery spokeswoman Shelly Gerteisen. “If they want to meet with a financial planner or get legal advice, we encourage them to do that.”
In Tennessee, the lucky ticket was purchased at Naifeh’s Food Mart in Munford, about 40 minutes from Memphis, according to Rebecca Hargrove, president and chief executive of the Tennessee Lottery.
“We’re just so excited,” said Dana Naifeh, who reportedly owns the store with her husband.
In Chino Hills on Wednesday night, some in the crowd took selfies with Atwal and two of the store’s manag- ers. That group included 17-year-old Terell Love, who worked his way behind the counter to get a photograph with the owner.
“This is crazy,” Love said. “Out of the whole country, and it could have been anyone, Chino Hills gets the winning numbers. This puts Chino Hills on the map.”
Chino Hills resident Shari Davis, 51, said she came by the store to support the community. She bought her ticket at an Arco gas station across the street.
“I needed to get gas,” she said. “So I bought my ticket there.”
Balbir Gosal has managed the Chino Hills store for 11 years and worked 12-hour shifts for the past four days selling tickets. He said he thinks he is the one who sold the customer the winning ticket. When someone asked Gosal what he is going to say to the winner, his 21-year-old niece chimed in: “He’s going to say, ‘Where is my cut?’ ”
Nelson Moreno, 53, drove from Moreno Valley to witness the excite- ment. He bought $80 worth of lottery tickets, some in his home city, some in Irvine and a few in Los Angeles. He, like many Wednesday night, was hoping to get a chance to talk to the winner.
“Maybe if he comes, he will give us some money,” Moreno said.
Jeff Stander, marketing manager for 7-Eleven in the Los Angeles area, which includes the Chino Hills store, was not sure how the Powerball bonus would be divided between 7Eleven and Atwal’s franchise. .