Portland, OR – As the Powerball numbers were just announced, people all over the country sat in front of their televisions hoping to be the proud owner of the $1.3 billion winnings.
After nobody won the $900 million prize on Saturday, people all over the country rushed back to the gas station or mini mart closest to their work or home so they could get another chance to win the even higher prize. The winning prize of over a billion dollars was record-breaking for the lottery and was the focus of all of the newspapers and news stations over the last few days. Even with President Obama’s last State of the Union speech last night, Americans were focused on winning the lottery.
People joked that nobody would win on this drawing either and that the drawing would keep going until it could pay off the debt that America owes to China. As fun as this would’ve been to have seen, there has unfortunately been a winner. That winner is Paul Dawson.
Dawson, a stockbroker in the rose city, has been out of college for a few years, but has barely made a dent in his student loans. The Iowa native received his Master’s from Harvard’s School of Business in 2010, but his degree and high-paying job were still not enough to help with paying his loans.
Dawnson has been working overtime since graduating, and even waits tables during the summer, and hasn’t seen much of a change in what he owes for his education.
“I’ve always been responsible with money,” the winner told us. “Everything I’ve made lately went to putting a roof over my head, food in my stomach, and the rest of it went to taking care of my loans. I decided I would treat myself and buy one Powerball ticket.” And that ticket won Dawson just under $1 billion.
Although taking the annuity was the smarter and more professional way to claim his winnings, Dawson chose to take it all right away. It wound up being less, but it was still a good amount of money, or so he thought.
All of his winnings went right paying off his loans and he still owes money for his education.
