Buxton Beats Powerball Odds And Wins $425 Million
B. Raymond Buxton picked the perfect day, April Fool’s Day, to claim his lottery cash prize of $425 million smackaroos. He was no fool as he sat in a local Subway shop having lunch in Northern California about six weeks ago and made the decision to buy a lottery ticket. ABCNews.com reports that Buxton had been buying lottery tickets for over twenty years. It appears his persistence has paid off very well.
Buxton actually purchased the ticket on February 19th and said when he sat down in front of the computer to check his numbers, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He kept checking the numbers over and over again.
“Once the initial shock passed, I couldn’t sleep for days,” he said.
Buxton also kept the news to himself, telling no one he had won. Buxton is not only a lucky man, but a man of strong will. We all can understand his not being able to sleep, but it is hard to fathom that Buxton was able to keep such a huge secret tight-lipped.
During this six week period, Buxton lined up an attorney and a financial advisor to help him with establishing accounts and taxes. Buxton also wants to establish charitable foundations focused on the areas of pediatric health, child hunger and education per ABCNews.com.
Although Buxton’s winning amount of $425 million is one of the largest in U.S. history, it trails behind the largest Mega Million jackpot of $656 million back in 2012, and the highest Powerball prize of $590.5 million as reported by ABCNews.com.
At the advice of his financial adviser, CNN.com reveals that Buxton accepted the cash option and Buxton will actually deposit a lump sum of $242.2 million (before taxes) into his newly established accounts. It is no surprise that Buxton wants to remain anonymous and asked his publicist, Sam Singer, to keep his identity as private as possible.
He won’t reveal his age, his address, or his occupation with the exception that he has recently retired. Is Buxton not aware of Google.com? Your name is everywhere now, Mr. Buxton. Your full name. B. Raymond Buxton, a retiree in Northern California who ate a Subway just ten miles north of San Jose, as reported by ABCNews.com. You won’t be a secret for long.
When Buxton arrived at the California Lottery Headquarters in Sacramento yesterday to receive his prize, he even held the jumbo-sized check in front of his head so we can only see his multi-million dollar savvy attire which consisted of a Star Wars T-shirt displaying Yoda saying, “Luck of the Jedi, I have.”
Sick to our stomachs, we are.
As Buxton enjoys his new-found wealth, the rest of America will continue pulling out dollars from our wallets for lottery tickets in hopes of living Buxton’s dream. After all, ABCNews.com shares that according to the statistics from the Multi-State Lottery Association in Iowa, the odds of matching all six Powerball numbers are 1 in about 175 million. Luck of the Buxton, we need.
Buxton told CNN.com, “It’s amazing how a little slip of paper can change your life.”
No, imagine how 425 million slips of paper can change your life, Mr. Buxton. May the Force be with you.
