Indian gets USD 100,000 for selling winning lottery ticket

Washington, July 10: An Indian-American beer shop owner in Pennsylvania will get a whopping USD 100,000 for selling a USD 131.5 million-winning lottery ticket.

Gary Patel, 30, who immigrated to the US from India as a teenager, said he would give the amount as a bonus to the three employees of his shop.

The winner of the lottery ticket has not been identified yet. Father of twin babies, Patel came to know about his jackpot – the commission that he would get for his store selling the mega lottery ticket – when an official of Pennsylvania Lottery visited his store to ensure that the ticket was sold from his store.

"You sold the Powerball ticket? Congrats, Gary!" customer Kim Morfiah said - actually, yelled at the top of her lungs - to Patel from the store's doorway. "Oh, my God, somebody in the 'hood is rich!," the customer was quoted as saying by Philly News. "Which is good," replied Patel.

"It's getting crazy . . . uh, I don't like pictures," Patel, sporting camo shorts and a V-neck, said slowly, as he politely let photographers snap away.

Patel said, his wife did not believe when he called her to give her the good news. "My wife didn't believe me when I called. I had to FaceTime her," he said, referring to the iPhone video-chat feature. "Then she believed me," he said.

The winner of the lottery number - 13-19-23-33-57, and the red Powerball 28 lottery - has the option of taking the USD 131.5 million annuity, or USD 77.4 million in cash, minus the 25 per cent federal withholding.

PTI