Sole winner of $425M Powerball jackpot claims prize

MILPITAS, Calif. - California Lottery officials say the sole winner of February's $425 million Powerball jackpot has come forward to claim the prize.

B. Raymond Buxton claimed the prize at the California Lottery headquarters in Sacramento on Tuesday. Lottery officials say Buxton was wearing a shirt that featured a picture of Yoda and read, "Luck of the Jedi I have."

The one winning ticket was sold at a convenience store in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Milpitas, about 10 miles north of San Jose.

The winning numbers were drawn Feb. 19.

The $425 million jackpot is one of the largest lottery jackpots in U.S. history, though far from the record.

Lottery officials say Buxton chose to take a lump sum payment of $242.2 million before taxes.

The ticket was sold at a Chevron gas station. Lottery officials said Buxton was getting lunch at a Subway restaurant at the station's convenience store when he decided to buy another ticket since the jackpot was so large, lottery officials said. He bought a single Quick Pick ticket for $2 that turned out to be the winner.

"'Unbelievable!' is all I could muster," Buxton said, as he described the moment he found out he hit the jackpot, according to a news release from the state lottery. "I sat in front of the computer for hours in disbelief, frequently checking and rechecking the numbers across multiple sources. Once the initial shock passed I couldn't sleep for days."