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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Ryan Merrifield

Petrol station owner who sold record £1.7billion lottery ticket is given $1million bonus

A petrol station owner who sold a lottery ticket which went on to win a landmark $2.04 billion (£1.7bn) has been given a $1 million (£876,700) bonus.

Joseph Chahayed runs Joe's Service Center in Altadena, California, USA, with his family and was presented with the cheque by Powerball lottery officials yesterday.

The 75-year-old said he plans to share the prize money with his loved ones, including his 11 grandchildren.

His son Danny said the station has sold winning tickets before but the prizes were only in the thousands.

Joseph has been encouraged to retire and live off the windfall but wants to keep working.

He moved to America from Syria with his family in 1980.

Joseph holds a check with his son, Joe Chahayed, Jr (Damian Dovarganes/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

The lottery winner is yet to come forward to claim the prize, reports Insider.

It is the highest ever total the lottery has recorded and there have been 40 consecutive draws without a winner since August 3.

Powerball said the jackpot was so big that they didn't have the correct signage available.

They had to tape over signs at Joe's Service Center to read: "Billionaire made here" instead of "millionaire made here".

Joseph plans to share the winnings with his family but carry on working (Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock)

The $2.04 billion scooped by the mystery player beats the previous record of $1.586 billion won in January 2016, which was split by three winners.

Winners have the choice of receiving their prize in the form of a lower cash prize, currently at least $929 million (£808 million). This figure is based on the previous draw estimate.

Successful ticket holders can opt for the larger prize, but must receive this in annuity payments for the next 29 years.

This would see a winner receive around $70 million (£61 million) every year until 2051.

The winner of the landmark $2.04 billion jackpot is yet to come forward (Damian Dovarganes/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

The final draw was drawn on Tuesday morning at the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee after a delay due to technical problems.

The odds of winning the grand prize are reportedly one in 292 million - which is 19,000 less likely than getting struck by lightning in the US, according to the National Weather Service.

Joseph is understood to be the father-in-law of NFL player Domata Peko, who wrote on Instagram : "My Father In-Law Sold the winning PowerBall. Congratulations Baba."

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