$291M FL Powerball winner, and his brother, claim prizes
TALLAHASSEE (FOX 13) - The man who won Florida's $291 million Powerball jackpot was on his annual vacation from Pennsylvania when he bought his ticket, but he wasn't the only member of his family to snag a winner that day.
James Stocklas, 67, was overjoyed to learn his yearly fishing trip in the Keys landed him the big jackpot, which he took home in a lump-sum payment of $191.4 million. However, his brother was not going to let James have all the fun.
His brother didn't come up a big winner like James, but the Florida Lottery printed him a big check for $7 he won in the Powerball drawing, as well.
Stocklas is a senior judge in Pennsylvania and was on vacation where he spent about a month fishing in the Florida Keys with friends and relatives. On the return drive home, they stopped at the Tom Thumb store, located at 5515 Overseas Highway in Marathon, for a bag of ice and to pick up some Florida Lottery tickets.
Stocklas said he was getting back to his usual routine at home and went to his favorite diner for breakfast when he realized he won big in Florida.
"I go to the same restaurant every day for breakfast and before I began drinking my coffee or reading the paper, I pulled up the news on my phone and saw a headline about a Florida POWERBALL winner," Socklas explained. "I got my POWERBALL ticket out of my wallet to check the numbers, and sure enough, I was the jackpot winner!"
The Florida Lottery said Stocklas then bought breakfast for everyone in the restaurant and called his friends and family to say they were heading back to Florida.
The winning numbers were 12-13-44-52-62 and the Powerball was 06. The store will get $85,000 for selling the jackpot-winning ticket.