$1.3 billion Powerball winners revealed, cancer survivor said he 'prayed to God' for win

The winner of this month's $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot was revealed by Oregon Lottery officials at a press conference Monday.

Cheng Saephan, 46, his wife Duanpen Saephan, 37, and friend Liza Chao, 55, were announced as winners of the drawing that took place on April 6.

The Saephans are residents of Portland while Chao is from Milwaukie. The couple will split the over $422 million after-tax-withholdings lump sum with Chao evenly, according to lottery officials.

Cheng Saephan was the only one of the three winners to address the media Monday.

Saephan is an immigrant born in Laos who moved to the United States in 1994 and has been battling cancer since 2016. His most recent chemotherapy treatment took place a week ago. Saephan worked as a machinist in the aerospace industry before his cancer diagnosis.

When asked about the moment he realized he won, Saephan said that he was grateful that his family would be taken care of and thought, "how am I going to have time to spend all of this money?"

Saephan said that he regularly played the lottery — splitting $200 dollars' worth of tickets with Chao for the drawing he won — and brought a piece of paper with the numbers of the Powerball game written on them that he slept with under his pillow every night.

He thought he might win a jackpot in the millions but did not expect to win such a large prize.

“I prayed to God to help me,” Saephan said, “My kids are young and I’m not that healthy.”

Saephan said that the first purchase he intends to make with the winnings was a dream home in Oregon.

Largest Powerball jackpots

The jackpot won by Saephan and Chao is the fourth largest jackpot in Powerball history and the third entry into the top five in a year.

The five largest Powerball jackpots won are:

1. $2.040 Billion — Nov. 7, 2022 — California
2. $1.765 Billion — Oct. 11, 2023 — California
3. $1.586 Billion — Jan. 13, 2016 — California, Florida, Tennessee
4. $1.326 Billion — April 6, 2024 — Oregon
5. $1.080 Billion — July 19, 2023 — California

Before the April drawing the largest Powerball jackpot won in Oregon was a $340 million jackpot in 2005.

What were the winning numbers?

The winning numbers for the April 6 draw were: 22, 27, 44, 52, and 69 with a Powerball of 9.

Saephan said that the numbers were chosen with quick pick.

Winning lottery numbers are sponsored by Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY network. 

What are the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot?

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are long. Players have a one in 292,201,338 shot at winning the grand prize, a one in 11,688,053.52 shot at winning the $1 million prize and a one in 24.87 chance of winning any prize.