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Phoenix, AZ— This morning lottery officials were pleased to announce that one of the two winners in last night’s Powerball drawing has come forward. That lucky person is Paul Horner from Fountain Hills, Arizona. He is one of the two winners in Wednesday’s record $588 million Powerball jackpot. Mr. Horner won by correctly matching all five numbers and then also the Powerball.

Mr. Horner was ecstatic when he arrived at the Phoenix Lottery Office this morning says lottery official Debbie Arnette. “He had a smile from ear to ear. He was screaming at the top of his lungs that he had won, it was quite a sight to see,” Arnette says. “Then after we verified the winning ticket and finalized everything, we learned that Mr. Horner was homeless. He said the night before he had been sleeping on a park bench and was begging for change.” Arnette continued, “He told us that his wife had left him and took the kids to Wyoming after he lost his job at a meat packing factory in Phoenix last January. It made me tear up, what can I say, I’m a softy. This will truly be a rags to riches story.”

Horner talked to reporters telling them of his plans for his new found wealth and how he had picked the winning numbers. “First of all, I hope my wife will take me back and I can be with my kids again. That’s really all I want,” Horner said. “I’ve seen first hand how it is out there on the streets. I plan to give a lot of that money back to help others in need.” Horner continued, “As for how I picked the numbers, it was really easy. My youngest son Tim is five years old, my daughter Stephanie is 16, I married my wife when I was 22 and she was 23, and the 29th is the date when I planned to win all these millions,” Horner laughs for a moment, but that laughter quickly turns to tears. “And the number 6 is how many kids my wife and I had planned to have before she left me.”

“He came in smelling of malt liquor and a strong odor of what I believe to be marijuana,” says 41-year-old Monica Lanter who was at the Phoenix Lottery Office when Horner arrived with the winning ticket. “I heard one of the employees ask Mr. Horner if he was going to have a $500 million crack party, just like that one episode from the Chappelle Show. I didn’t think that was very nice or funny whatsoever.”

The winning numbers in last night’s drawing were 5-16-22-23-29 with a Powerball of 6. A total of two winning tickets were sold in the November 28th Powerball drawing. The other winning ticket, besides the one Mr. Horner purchased in Arizona, is from the state of Missouri. The winners from Missouri came forward earlier today. The odds of winning last night’s Powerball drawing were 1 in 175,223,510.00. The Phoenix Lottery Office is located at 4740 E. University Dr., Phoenix, AZ 85034 and is open Monday – Friday, except holidays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.