The winner of this month’s $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot, an immigrant from Laos who lives in Portland and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer, came forward to collect his prize on Monday.
Cheng "Charlie" Saephan holds display check above his head after speaking during a news conference ... [+]
Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, 46, told reporters that he and his wife are keeping half the winnings and giving the rest to their friend Laiza Chao, 55, as they had pooled money together to buy the lottery tickets.
Instead of receiving the $1.3 billion jackpot spread across 30 annual payments, the winners chose the more popular option and picked the lump sum cash prize of $608 million.
Saephan took home a prize of $422.3 million after federal and state taxes were deducted.
Oregon is among the states that tax lottery winnings, withholding 8% on all prizes of $1,500 and above.
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Saephan said he would use the winnings to provide for his family and his health and said he was looking forward to finding “a good doctor for myself.” The 46-year-old has been battling cancer for eight years and is currently dealing with a recurrence. Saephan said he purchased more than 20 tickets for the drawing and even joked with his friend Chao about becoming a billionaire before the drawing was carried out. After Saephan found out they had won, he called Chao while she was on her way to work and told her “You don’t have to go anymore.” Saephan told reporters he was born in Laos and first migrated to Thailand in 1987, and then to the U.S. in 1994. He also said despite being born in Laos, he was not Laotian but identified himself as Iu Mien—an ethnic group from Southeast Asia who partnered with the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Iu Mien people were forced to flee to Thailand after the end of the Vietnam war to avoid retribution.