A 44-YEAR-OLD immigrant from the Dominican Republic is the winner of a $US338 million ($A324.5 million) Powerball lottery jackpot in the US, and he's telling reporters in Spanish that he's "very happy".
Reporters were at the New Jersey liquor store where the ticket was sold when Pedro Quezada entered on Monday and had his ticket validated.
A lump-sum payout would be $221 million, or about $152 million after taxes. It's the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history.
Quezada told reporters his first priority would be helping his family.
His wife, Ines Sanchez, told the Bergen Record that Quezada called her with the news on Monday afternoon.
"I still can't believe it," she said. "We never expected it but thank God."
The family's apartment is in Passaic, part of the working-class suburbs sprawling from New York City. Neighbours stood in the rain on Monday night and spoke with pride that one of their own had struck it rich.
Eladia Vazquez described Quezada and his wife as "quiet and not overly talkative" but sensed that they seemed to be working all the time.
"This is super for all of us on this block," she said. "They deserve it because they are hardworking people."
Alberto Liranzo, who lives two floors below Quezada, said the lottery winner had five children and owned a bodega in Passaic.
Dominican immigrant Jose Gonzalez said he barbecued and played dominoes with Quezada in the summers in a backyard on their street.
"He sometimes would work from six in the morning to 11 at night, so I did not see him much," Gonzalez said in Spanish.
Neighbours said the Quezada family has suffered bad luck in recent years. Two years ago, thieves broke in and stole everything from clothing to jewellery. The year before, a fire destroyed much of their bodega.
Their Powerball success was a blessing for the neighbourhood, resident Daphne Robinson said. "It gives people hope that there is a blessing somewhere, for somebody."
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