Another black person who won
$259.9 Million Powerball® Jackpot Winner Says,
"It Is a Beautiful Day for Education!"
COLUMBIA, SC (August 25, 2009) – Flashing his megawatt smile, Solomon Jackson, Jr. happily accepted the oversized Powerball® check for $259.9 million during a news conference at the Lottery’s Columbia Claims Center.
“It’s a beautiful day for education,” said Jackson, a Columbia native. “I’ve always supported education.”
The lucky player decided to buy a $1 Powerball® ticket for the August 19 drawing and chose the PowerPlay® option for an additional dollar.“I thought, ‘Why not throw two dollars at the Lottery?’ I did, and it threw it all back to me,” Jackson joked.
His ticket was the only one that matched all six of the winning numbers to win the multi-million dollar Powerball® jackpot. (Winning numbers: 14, 24, 31, 43, 51; Powerball® 27 and PowerPlay® 5). Jackson bought his ticket at Murphy USA #7057, on Garners Ferry Road, in Columbia. The retailer received a $50,000 selling bonus.
South Carolina’s newest multimillionaire has not decided which payout option to take: the one time lump sum ($129 million) or the annuity installments for 29 years. Jackson retired from a job in state government ten years ago.
Since the Lottery’s inception in 2002, the General Assembly has appropriated more than $2.2 billion for educational purposes through fiscal year 2010. Approximately 97 cents of every dollar spent by players on the South Carolina Education Lottery is returned to the state in the form of contributions to education, prizes, retailer commissions, and payment to contractors for goods and services.
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