Staten Island Plumber Finds Ticket Worth $136 Million in Basement

A player who snapped up the second largest Powerball prize ever awarded in New York has admitted that he only found out about his success after his truck broke down. Anthony Perosi, a plumber from Staten Island, needed money for car parts and went to check the basement pipe where he tended to pin tickets he recently bought. He discovered that one ticket was worth $136 million and had been forgotten about for six weeks.

The ticket had been bought for the draw on 14th March and a friend had reportedly told Perosi that somebody else had won. Upon finding out that he had landed the staggering windfall, Perosi was in a state of shock.

“I was looking at the ticket, looking at the computer, looking at the ticket, looking at the computer,” he said at a press conference after coming forward to claim his prize. “I tried to breathe in, and nothing would go in, so I thought I was having a heart attack, like my heart stopped.”

Perosi, 56, plans to share his prize with his family and is looking forward to spending more time with his them in addition travelling around New York. He intends to carry on working but admits he will cut his hours back and ‘do some investing for the future of my nieces and nephews and my grandchildren, hopefully.’

The story of Perosi’s good fortune came out just after last Wednesday’s Powerball draw, when one ticket holder from Arizona grabbed the jackpot of $188.9 million. Following a rollover on Saturday, players will be keeping a close eye on their tickets ahead of the next draw in midweek, when the top prize will be $50 million. Tickets can also be bought online to take away the worry of having to keep them safe, providing participants with added security as they play for life-changing amounts of cash.