Powerball ‘Hookers and Cocaine’ Guy Apologizes, Says He Never Thought Response Would Go Viral

Remember the guy who said he would spend his Powerball winnings on “a bunch of hookers and cocaine”? A Las Vegas radio station tracked him down, and he’s apologized for his remarks, saying he was speaking off the cuff and didn’t think his awkward response would go viral, KLUC-FM (Las Vegas) is reporting.

The nation was gripped in Powerball frenzy last week (and in case you haven’t heard, nobody won Saturday’s jackpot and the Powerball jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing is now an estimated $1.3 billion). And as local media covered the Powerball mania across the country, one story that managed to go viral nationwide came out of Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Fox affiliate KVVU sent a reporter in to a local convenience store, where a long line of would-be Powerball millionaires had gathered, hoping for their chance at the record jackpot. A reporter makes small talk with the customers, asking them about their number choices. And then, she struck gold: she asked a man what he would do if he won the Powerball, and his answer was a little unexpected.

The quick-thinking reporter, ever the professional, chuckled and said “That’s not good” before moving on.

The man’s “a bunch of hookers and cocaine” response quickly went viral: video of his response has been shared millions of times, and it was even covered in international media.

Now, a local “morning zoo” radio program has tracked the “hookers and cocaine” guy down, and as it turns out, he’s a married dad of two who never had any intention of blowing his Powerball jackpot like that. His name is Isaac, and he spoke to KLUC DJ Chet Buchanan to talk about being at the center of a viral news story.

Isaac said he was caught off-guard by the reporter, which led to his snarky “hookers and cocaine” response. He knew there were TV cameras at the convenience store that day, but he was concentrating on his tickets and wasn’t prepared to answer a reporter’s questions.

“I was aware. I had no idea they were coming up to me, I was on my phone minding my own business. There’s a mic in my face and I’m just caught a little off guard. I just answered the question and I thought I was done, and she kept going. And I was like, oh here we go. She kind of made me feel a little dumb out there, so I gave her a dumb answer.”

He said he had no idea his off-the-cuff remark would go viral.

And asked if hookers and cocaine would really be his Powerball gift to himself if he won, Isaac came clean.

“No, no. Definitely wouldn’t be.”

So what would Isaac have blown his Powerball money on, if not hookers and cocaine? The usual stuff, he said: pay off bills, put his kids through college, that sort of thing. His biggest gift to himself would be something far more mundane: a nice vehicle.

“My wife would kick my a** anyway.”

Of course, “hookers and cocaine” guy’s numbers didn’t come up in Saturday night’s Powerball drawing — no one’s did. That means that Wednesday’s estimated jackpot is now $1.3 billion — a U.S. lottery record.

So, how did the Powerball jackpot get to be well over a billion dollars? As the Daily Mail reports, last fall, the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the Powerball lottery, changed the way the game is played in order to make it harder to win. The odds of winning the jackpot went from one in 175 million to one in 292.2 million. And as weeks go buy and jackpots roll over, Powerball jackpots in the billions are likely to be more commonplace.

[Image via YouTube]