The man who won $1 million for selling California's largest Powerball jackpot at his Milpitas gas station has no idea he won - and it might take him awhile to figure out that he's a newly minted millionaire.
That's what his son, Parmeet Singh, told reporters on Thursday morning standing in front of Dixon Landing Chevron on California Circle.
"Nope, he has no idea, none," Singh said.
Singh's father, Kulwinder Singh, 54, the owner of the gas station and about seven others, was en route to New Delhi in India Thursday and was expected to land about 11 a.m. PST. But it might even take longer than that to deliver the news to his dad. Parmeet Singh said his father purposely left his phone at home because he didn't want to be bothered with anything that had to do with work while he was away.
The younger Singh learned about the good news when a friend texted him a screen shot of a NBC Bay Area web article about the winning ticket.
The reason the Singh family is now instantly rich is because the winning $425 million Powerball jackpot was sold at their store, meaning they get the maximum retailer bonus of $1 million.
The winning numbers are 17, 49, 54, 35, 1 and the Powerball number 34. Lotto officials said the ticket was the only Powerball jackpot winner. The winner of the big prize still has not come forward. Lottery officials said this was the largest jackpot ever won in California, the sixth largest in U.S. history and the fourth largest Powerball jackpot of all time.
The Singh family has reaped lottery rewards before, like when they sold a $10,000 scratcher ticket from the California Lottery. But they've never won any prize this big before.
As for what the elder Singh will do with the money, his son said he had "no idea" but that his father is a "smart man." He did add that the whole thing was "pretty ridiculous" - in a good way - and that after that, he was at a loss for words.
This is the second big jackpot winner in the last several months where the ticket was bought in Silicon Valley.
On Dec. 17, a small San Jose gift shop sold a $324 million Mega Millions ticket. It was one of two big tickets. The other was sold in Georgia. That winner, Steve Tran of Northern California, came forward to claim his prize shortly after the new year. He decided to take the cash option: $173 million before federal taxes.
NBC Bay Area's Christie Smith contributed to this report
Photo Credit: Christie Smith
