We now know a 73-year-old man and a 62-year-old woman are the holders of the $97 million Powerball ticket sold in Metairie in January.
"Fortunately I was in the right place at the right time," Carl Hunter said. The winning ticket was a quick pick he grabbed as an after thought. "I stopped by to pick up a gallon of milk, and had some change. One dollar was used to buy this ticket."
As for why it took so long to claim the prize, the lifelong contractor who lost two homes to Katrina, says he had some jobs he was doing and didn't want to retire until he finished the work. "I had quite a few contracts that I needed to complete and it took a while to finish up the work," he told reporters.
Hunter says now he is going to retire.
Listen to the winners at the news conference:
After losing the houses during Katrina, the Hunters had moved to Metairie and bought the ticket at a store near their new home. It is a gas station on West Metairie Avenue and Elise.
The Hunters chose to take the cash all at once. After taxes they get nearly $34 million.
How will they spend it? "We don't even know what we are going to do," Dianne Hunter said. Her husband added, "I don't think about buying elaborate cars and elaborate homes and things like that. We'll just try to keep our lives as normal as we have in the past."
