Thanking God and promising not to squander his windfall, South Dakota rancher Neal Wanless spoke to reporters on June 5 about his $232 million Powerball prize – one of the largest undivided lottery jackpots in U.S. history.
Wanless lives in Mission, S.D. but traveled to nearby Winner, S.D., where he plunked down $15 on tickets. He picked the winning numbers himself, using the birth dates of family members. After taxes, his lump sum payment for the May 27 drawing is $88.5 million. According to lottery officials, the real check will be cut on June 16, 2009.
The 23-year-old resides in rural Todd County, ranked one of the poorest in the U.S., according to 2007 census figures. He lives with his mother and father on a 320-acre ranch where they raise cattle, sheep and horses. Since winning the mega jackpot, it has business as usual for the hard working cowboy, who continues to work on the family ranch.
Citing the fact that his community has been a big help to his family in the past, Neal plans to repay their generosity “many times over”. For himself, his first order of business is to buy some land of his own so that he and horse Eleanor will have more room to ride.
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