Luis Sandoval, a 20-year-old culinary arts student, said he thought coworkers were joking when they told him that he'd sold the winning ticket. Watch video
TRENTON -- When coworkers at the 7-Eleven told Luis Sandoval that he had sold last week's $429 million winning Powerball ticket, he didn't believe it at first.
"When they texted me, I thought they were messing with me," Sandoval, 20, who lives and works in Trenton, said in a phone interview from the Chambers Street convenience store on Sunday night. "But then my second coworker told me the same thing, I was blown away."
Lottery officials announced Sunday morning that a single winning ticket had, indeed, been sold in Mercer County, with the winner looking at a cool $429.6 million payoff.
Only one ticket matched all six numbers in Saturday night's drawing, Powerball spokeswoman Kelly Cripe told the Associated Press. The winning Powerball numbers were 5-25-26-44-66 and the Powerball number was 9.
Cripe said a winner, or co-winners, electing a one-time cash payout will receive $284.1 million.
The prize was the largest since a record $1.6 billion payout in January that was shared by three winners.
Sandoval, who has no idea who the winner might be, has worked at the 7-Eleven for 2 years, and he remembered people lining up to buy hundreds of tickets at a time hoping for the January jackpot.
"Not this time," he said, surprised that the store wasn't that busy with players on Tuesday, when he sold only about 100 tickets in all. But, he added, "It only takes one ticket to get the big prize."
Winning Powerball ticket sold in Mercer
Sandoval, a naturalized U.S. citizen who moved to New Jersey with his family from Guatamala 10 years ago, is working his way through school as a first-year culinary arts student at Mercer County Community College. The aspiring chef's favorite food is Italian.
If offered a tip from the new multimillionaire who bought the winning ticket from him, Sandoval said he would invest in his education.
"I would like to finish school and pay off school, and help my family out, too," said Sandoval, who lives with his parents, a brother, and a sister, in an apartment in Trenton. "It's always challenging, but with hard work you can always step up."
"I never play lottery," he said, though now he'll probably buy the occasional ticket, just for fun, knowing it only takes one.
"Everybody wants a chance to win some money, man."
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.