APRIL 30, 2024:
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Cheng “Charlie” Saephan wore a broad smile and a bright blue sash emblazoned with the words “Iu-Mien USA” as he hoisted an oversized check for $1.3 billion above his head.
The 46-year-old immigrant’s luck in winning an enormous Powerball jackpot in Oregon earlier this month — a lump sum payment of $422 million after taxes, which he and his wife will split with a friend — has changed his life. It also raised awareness about Iu Mien people, a southeast Asian ethnic group with origins in China, many of whose members fled from Laos to Thailand and then settled in the U.S. following the Vietnam War.
“I am born in Laos, but I am not Laotian,” Saephan told a news conference Monday (April 29, 2024) at Oregon Lottery headquarters, where his identity as one of the jackpot’s winners was revealed. “I am Iu Mien.”
During the Vietnam War, the CIA and U.S. military recruited Iu Mien in neighboring Laos, many of them subsistence farmers, to engage in guerrilla warfare and to provide intelligence and surveillance to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail that the North Vietnamese used to send troops and weapons through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam.
After the conflict as well as the Laotian civil war, when the U.S.-backed government of Laos fell in 1975, they fled by the thousands to avoid reprisals from the new Communist government, escaping by foot through the jungle and then across the Mekong River into Thailand, according to a history posted on the website of Iu Mien Community Services in Sacramento, California. More than 70% of the Iu Mien population in Laos left and many wound up in refugee camps in Thailand.
Thousands of the refugees were allowed to come to the U.S., with the first waves arriving in the late 1970s and most settling along the West Coast. The culture had rich traditions of storytelling, basketry, embroidery and jewelry-making, but many initially had difficulty adjusting to Western life due to cultural and language differences as well as a lack of formal education.
There are now tens of thousands of Iu Mien — pronounced “yoo MEE’-en” — in the U.S., with many attending universities or starting businesses. Many have converted to Christianity from traditional animist religions. There is a sizeable Iu Mien community in Portland and its suburbs, with a Buddhist temple and Baptist church, active social organization, and businesses and restaurants.
Cayle Tern, president of the Iu Mien Association of Oregon, arrived in Portland with his family in 1980, when he was 3 years old. He is now running for City Council. Saephan’s Powerball win is significant for other Iu Mien, he said.
“It means so much because all of us came with so little,” Tern said. “I take pride in seeing our members of the community advance and flourish, and I just feel so good for him.”
Saephan, 46, said he was born in Laos and moved to Thailand in 1987, before immigrating to the U.S. in 1994. He graduated from high school in 1996 and has lived in Portland for 30 years. He worked as a machinist for an aerospace company.
He said Monday that he has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
“I will be able to provide for my family and my health,” he said, adding that he’d “find a good doctor for myself.”
Saephan, who has two young children, said that as a cancer patient, he wondered, “How am I going to have time to spend all of this money? How long will I live?”
He said he and his 37-year-old wife, Duanpen, are taking half the money, and the rest is going to a friend, Laiza Chao, 55, of the Portland suburb of Milwaukie. Chao had chipped in $100 to buy a batch of tickets with them.
Chao, was on her way to work when Saephan called her with the news: “You don’t have to go anymore,” he said.
In the weeks leading up to the drawing, he wrote out numbers for the game on a piece of paper and slept with it under his pillow, he said. He prayed that he would win, saying, “I need some help — I don’t want to die yet unless I have done something for my family first.”
The winning Powerball ticket was sold in early April at a Plaid Pantry convenience store in Portland, ending a winless streak that had stretched more than three months. The Oregon Lottery said it had to go through a security and vetting process before announcing the identity of the person who came forward to claim the prize.
Under Oregon law, with few exceptions, lottery players cannot remain anonymous. Winners have a year to claim the top prize.
The jackpot had a cash value of $621 million before taxes if the winner chose to take a lump sum rather than an annuity paid over 30 years, with an immediate payout followed by 29 annual installments. The prize is subject to federal taxes and state taxes in Oregon.
The $1.3 billion prize is the fourth largest Powerball jackpot in history, and the eighth largest among U.S. jackpot games, according to the Oregon Lottery.
The biggest U.S. lottery jackpot won was $2.04 billion in California in 2022.
APRIL 9, 2024:
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A person with a ticket matching all six Powerball numbers in Saturday’s $1.3 billion jackpot came forward Monday (April 8, 2024) to claim the prize, Oregon officials said.
The lottery ticket was purchased at a Plaid Pantry convenience store in the northeast part of the city, Oregon Lottery said in a statement.
Oregon Lottery is working with the person in a process that involves security measures and vetting that will take time before a winner is announced.
“This is an unprecedented jackpot win for Oregon Lottery,” Oregon Lottery Director Mike Wells said in the statement. “We’re taking every precaution to verify the winner before awarding the prize money.”
The jackpot has a cash value of $621 million if the winner chooses to take a lump sum rather than an annuity paid over 30 years, with an immediate payout followed by 29 annual installments. The prize is subject to federal taxes and state taxes in Oregon.
The prize was the fourth largest Powerball jackpot in history and the eighth largest among U.S. jackpot games, according to the Oregon Lottery.
The largest U.S. lottery jackpot won was $2.04 billion in California in 2022.
“Plaid Pantry is thrilled to learn that one of our 104 Oregon stores sold the $1.3 billion dollar Powerball ticket,” Plaid Pantry President and CEO Jonathan Polonsky said in the statement.
Outside the store Monday evening, Mimi Musser, of Beaverton, said she buys lottery tickets almost daily and wanted to stop by the store that sold the winning lottery ticket.
“I’m just so happy that finally Oregon won the big jackpot because it’s always on the East Coast,” Musser said. “Now that Oregon won it … there’s more hope for Oregon. Maybe we’ll win it again.”
APRIL 7, 2024:
APRIL 4, 2024:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot has increased to an estimated $1.23 billion after another drawing without a big winner Wednesday night (April 3, 2024).
The numbers selected were: 11, 38, 41, 62, 65 and the Powerball 15.
The jackpot, which now ranks as the eighth-largest in U.S. lottery history, has been growing for more than three months, reflecting the long odds of 1 in 292.2 million of winning the top prize. Since the last player won the jackpot Jan. 1, there have been 40 consecutive drawings without anyone matching all six numbers and hitting it rich.
Lottery officials note that thousands of people have won smaller prizes, which range from $2 to $2 million.
The $1.23 billion prize is for a sole winner who chooses to be paid through an annuity with 30 annual payments. Winners almost always prefer the cash option, which for the next drawing Saturday night would be an estimated $595.1 million.
Powerball is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
APRIL 3, 2024:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An estimated $1.09 billion Powerball jackpot that ranks as the 9th largest in U.S. lottery history will be up for grabs Wednesday night (April 3, 2024).
The Powerball jackpot has been growing for more than three months, reflecting the long odds of 1 in 292.2 million of winning the top prize. Since the last player won the jackpot on Jan. 1, there have been 39 consecutive drawings without anyone matching all six numbers and hitting it rich.
Lottery officials note that thousands of people have won smaller prizes, which range from $2 to $2 million.
The $1.09 billion prize is for a sole winner who chooses to be paid through an annuity, with 30 annual payments. Winners almost always prefer the cash option, which for Wednesday’s drawing would be an estimated $527.3 million.
Powerball is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
APRIL 2, 2024:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.09 billion after no one matched the six numbers drawn Monday night (April 1, 2024), continuing a three-month winless streak for the top prize.
The numbers drawn were: 19, 24, 40, 42, 56 and the Powerball 23.
No one has won Powerball’s jackpot since New Year’s Day, a stretch of 39 drawings without anyone matching the game’s six numbers. If no one wins the jackpot Wednesday night, the game will match its record of 41 consecutive drawings on Saturday night.
The reason for the jackpot drought is simple: The odds of winning the top prize are miserable, at 1 in 292.2 million. It’s those odds that create the large jackpots that are designed to attract attention and drive up sales.
The $1.09 billion prize is for a sole winner who makes the rare decision to be paid over 30 years through an annuity. Nearly all winners instead take the cash option, which for Wednesday night would be an estimated $527.3 million.
Powerball is played in 45 states plus Washington, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
MARCH 26, 2024:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot increased to an estimated $865 million after no one won Monday night’s (March 25, 2024) drawing, continuing a winless streak that dates to New Year’s Day.
The numbers drawn were: 7, 11, 19, 53 68 and red ball 23.
Since the last winner on Jan. 1, there have been 36-straight drawings without a big winner. It’s tough to win the Powerball jackpot because the odds are so long, at 1 in 292.2 million.
The top prize up for grabs Monday night was for an estimated $800 million.
The $865 million prize on the line for the next drawing Wednesday night is for a sole winner who is paid through an annuity, with an initial payment and then 29 annual payments. Most winners choose a cash payout, which for Wednesday night’s drawing would be an estimated $416 million.
The Powerball prize has mushroomed at a time when Mega Millions, the other nearly national U.S. lottery game, has become even bigger, with an estimated annuity payout of $1.1 billion. The next Mega Millions drawing will be Tuesday night.
Both games are sold in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball also is sold in Puerto Rico.
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