Pedro Quezada isn’t going to miss waking up at 5 every morning and keeping his Passaic bodega open until 11 p.m. just to keep his family of six going.
“Imagine, it’s been very difficult,” the $338 million Powerball winner said as he officially claimed his prize at New Jersey Lottery headquarters.
Quezada, who was robbed in his bodega in 2007, said he was so fearful when he realized he had the only winning ticket in Saturday’s drawing that he rushed to a bank and “put it in a lock box.”
Lottery officials said Quezada has already decided to take his winnings as a lump sum, rather than an annuity — and that comes to $151,931,117 after taxes.
Quezada, 44, who came to the United States from the Dominican Republic when he was 19, said he wasn’t sure what to do with all that money.
But he admitted a new car would be nice.
The first thing he’ll do when he gets the cash is “go for a spin around here,” he said.
“What kind of car do you drive now?” he was asked.
“My feet,” he said.
And his wife of nine years, Ines Sanchez, can have “whatever she wants,” he added.
The father of five beat the 175-million-to-one odds when he purchased the winning ticket Saturday at a liquor store in Passaic.
He used the “quick pick” method, so the five winning numbers plus Powerball number were chosen randomly for him by a lottery computer.
When he realized he had won, he called his wife.
“I told her that I’m a millionaire — and to watch me on TV,” he said.
“She said she didn’t believe it.”
“I had no words,” Sanchez told reporters. “My heart was jumping out of my chest from all the emotion.”
Is he going to keep buying lottery tickets?
“Of course, I’m looking for another win,” he said with a smile.
Some things will always be the same, Quezada said.
“My life will have to change with so much money, but my heart won’t change,” he said.