Kentucky man says he won Powerball

David Edwards: "I'm going to get $74,750,000 ... Say that fast."

ASHLAND, Kentucky (CNN) -- David Edwards had been laid off. He needed back surgery. His telephone was disconnected.

So he took $7 and wagered it on the Powerball Lottery jackpot, first picking birth dates and significant numbers. On his fifth play, he told CNN, he chose differently.

"I decided to just look at the numbers and let the numbers sort of pick me, and as I looked down at the numbers, what come to my mind, that's what I picked and that's what I ended up winning on," Edwards said.

That ticket apparently won big, garnering Edwards at least one quarter of the $295 million jackpot -- the second-highest in Powerball history.

VIDEO David Edwards of Ashland, Kentucky, says he is one of at least four winners in the $295 million Powerball jackpot. WOWK's Michelle Kimbler reports (August 26) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) As lottery officials wait for the remaining Powerball winners to claim their prize, lotto fever is running wild. CNN's Patty Davis reports (August 27) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES CNNfn: Alternative investment options for lottery players     RESOURCES In Focus: Financial planner: If you win Powerball   CNN Access: Powerball expert: 'I'd rather play blackjack'     Powerball odds If you buy 50 tickets a week, the odds are that you would win once every 30,000 years. If every Canadian's name were in a hat, you would be 2.5 times more likely to pick a particular name than to win the lottery. Biggest jackpots $363 million: 2 tickets, May 9, 2000; Big Game $295.7 million: 1 ticket, July 29, 1998; Powerball $197 million: 1 ticket, April 6, 1999; Big Game $194.5 million: 1 ticket, May 20, 1998; Powerball $151 million: 1 ticket, June 30, 1999; Powerball $150.2 million: 3 tickets, March 4, 2000; Powerball $130.6 million: 1 ticket, Nov. 29, 2000; Powerball $130 million: 2 tickets, Nov. 4, 2000; Millennium Millions

"I jumped out of the car and started praising God," he told CNN affiliate WOWK outside Clark's Pump-N-Shop in Ashland, where he bought the ticket. "Thank you Lord, thank you Lord, that I won this money."

For now, Edwards is considered an "unofficial winner." His ticket won't be officially validated until it reaches lottery headquarters. The Kentucky Lottery Corp. has scheduled a 3 p.m. EDT news conference in Louisville, said spokeswoman Heather Schutte.

Edwards' ticket is one of four winning tickets sold. Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said winning tickets were purchased in New Hampshire, Minnesota, Delaware as well as Kentucky -- the most winners ever for a single Powerball drawing. The numbers were 8, 17, 22, 42 and 47, and the Powerball number was 21.

If each ticket has one owner, each winner would have the option of taking $2.9 million a year for the next 25 years, or an immediate $41 million. Edwards told CNN he was leaning toward taking the lump sum payment.

"I'm hoping to make a change in a positive way," Edwards told CNN. "We're going to try to listen to some financial advisers, get the money invested so that other future generations will have this money as well, not just us. We need a new house."

Edwards' fiancee, Shawna Maddux, added, "I'm getting a Ferrari."

The owners of the Ashland Pump-N-Shop will themselves receive $450,000 for selling the winning ticket, Kentucky Lottery spokeswoman Nichelle Lee said. In contrast, the Cumberland Farms in Rollinsford, New Hampshire, will get $30,000 for selling a winning ticket, according to Rick Wisler, executive director of that state's lottery.

Situated just over the state line from Maine and about 20 miles from Massachusetts, Rollinsford was one of several communities nationwide recently invaded by a flood of lottery hopefuls from other states. Powerball tickets are sold in 21 states from Oregon to Rhode Island as well as the District of Colombia.

Joe Mahoney of the Multi-State Lottery Association said 204 million tickets were sold since the last drawing Wednesday.

Powerball officials said they sold $42 million in tickets Thursday, a sales record for a Thursday. By midday Friday, sales already had topped $42 million and were selling at a rate of 100,000 per minute, Mahoney said.

This weekend's jackpot is just shy of the $295.7 million won by a group of Ohio factory workers in 1998. It ranks as the third largest lottery jackpot ever in the United States, behind the 1998 jackpot and $363 million Big Game prize won by two players in Illinois and Michigan last year.

The fact the owners of three winning tickets still have not come forward comes as no surprise to lottery officials.

"That's not really too unusual because these winners still have to do quite a few things before they come on in," Wisler said.