"It feels like a dream – like any moment I’m going to be back in my room, laying and its going to be a disappointment." is what Manuel Franco, 24, from West Allis, Wisconsin, said as he became the third largest jackpot winner in US history. Manuel purchased a Quick Pick ticket at a Speedway in NewBerlin, in March.
The 24-year-old said he felt usually 'lucky' after work one day and decided to test the feeling by buying $10 worth of tickets. "Around 2pm I had left work. I had pretty much felt lucky… it's a weird feeling, not natural at all,' he said at the press conference. ‘I felt so lucky that i looked up at the camera and I wanted to wink at it because I really had that lucky feeling.'
He went home and admits he didn't check to see if his numbers won when the numbers came in. "I went to work not knowing any better to check… I left work that day, i remember hearing that day "Powerball winner Wisconsin."
"I got home, saw the tickets me and my girlfriend had bought together…went on my computer, searched up the Powerball numbers."
"I looked at the first number, I see that second number and my heart starts to pump. I’m like “No fricking way.”
"I looked at the Powerball number and it matched. At this point it was going insane. I don’t want to embarrass myself on live TV, but it was amazing."
'My heart was pumping and my blood felt warm; I screamed for about five or ten minutes.'
In Tuesday's press conference, Franco described the moment he emotionally revealed the win to his parents, leaving his father in tears and his mom confused by the outburst, wondering if he was in trouble. Read more on the story here.