Lottery lightning strikes in Buford as someone wins $478.2M jackpot

BUFORD, Ga — Lightning strikes in Buford Georgia, the lottery lightning. The winner bought the lucky ticket that’s worth $478,200,000!

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At the Quik Mart along Buford Dam Road in Gwinnett County Thursday, it was a great big exciting mystery.

“You guys don’t know who won it yet?” longtime customer Joselyn Ramos asked.

“Will an investigation be underway to find out who it is?” Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen asked.

“I’m not doing an investigation. We will just be surprised when they come in and tell us. ‘Hey! I was the winner,’” store owner Banti Thakkar said.

The winning $478.2 million Powerball ticket was purchased at Quik Mart. It’s just a few steps from Pizza Di Folco, where Renee Folco had a ticket she bought in that very store.

“Yes, I did—and I did not win. If I did win, we would not be here,” she laughingly said.

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It’s the largest lottery winner in Georgia history.

Longtime customer Otto Campbell would have liked to make that history. In the state of Georgia, winners may remain anonymous.

“Would you keep it on the down low?” Petersen asked.

“Absolutely! Of course, everybody would know because I’d just disappear. What happened to Otto!”

“You hear about it all the time, somebody won the lottery here. Somebody won the lottery there. It’s Buford, Georgia,” Joselyn Ramos said.

The Georgia Lottery says there is a retail bonus for selling the winning Powerball jackpot ticket.

Quik Mart will be receiving $50,000.

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