Powerball winner: 'My back was against the wall'

David Edwards

ASHLAND, Kentucky (CNN) -- Most of us have probably daydreamed about winning the lottery and being financially set for life. David Edwards can stop dreaming. Unemployed and in need of back surgery, the 46-year-old Kentucky man wagered $7 on Saturday night's Powerball lottery drawing and wound up a multimillionaire. CNN anchor Carol Lin spoke with Edwards and his fiancee, Shawna Maddux.

CNN: All right. David, I love this story because it just goes to show that anything can happen at any time. Take me back to Saturday night. You weren't even going to play this Powerball, and here it is an hour before the deadline and what goes through your mind?

EDWARDS: Well, I've been telling this story here for a day and a half, but at the time I only had three more unemployment checks left, and I didn't have any medical insurance and I need an operation on my back. And so I was -- my back was against the wall. I was pretty desperate.

CNN: Literally.

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EDWARDS: Yes, literally. I'd been laid off in the telecommunications market now for about three months, and so I only had three more checks coming in. I didn't know what I was going to do after that. And so my only hope at that point was, hey, why not. It's up to $280 million, let's give it a shot.

CNN: All right, so you go down the street, right, to the Pump-N-Shop, and you pick, what, four tickets? Your first four plays, what was your strategy there?

EDWARDS: I always pick like anniversaries, birthdays, things like that. I did that on the first three lines, and then on the fourth line, I decided to just look at the numbers and let the numbers sort of pick me. And as I looked down at the numbers, whatever came to my mind that's what I picked and that's what I ended up winning on.

CNN: Shawna, did you have a hand in any of this?

MADDUX: No, he just picked the numbers himself. My lucky honey.

CNN: You bet. Well, you're very lucky as well. What are you guys going to do with the money?

EDWARDS: Well, I'm putting some back for our kids. Shawna has a couple of boys. I got a little girl. And all of those are going to get to go to college. We're going...

MADDUX: I'm getting a Ferrari.

EDWARDS: She's getting a Ferrari.

CNN: What color, Shawna?

MADDUX: Red.

CNN: You bet, the color of money when it comes to Ferraris. And then, long term, have you really thought about how this is going to change your lives?

EDWARDS: Well, I'm hoping it'll make a change for us in a positive way. We're going to try to listen to some financial advisers, get the money invested to where future generations will have this money as well, not just us. We need a new house.

MADDUX: We need a new everything. We're going to be the new improved David and Shawna.

CNN: Have you guys thought about whether you're ever going to work again?

EDWARDS: We haven't yet. We haven't had time to really think about anything.

MADDUX: I'm going back to school. I'm going to work again.

CNN: Good for you. What do you want to do, Shawna?

MADDUX: I'd like to get a degree in business and marketing.

CNN: That might come in handy.

MADDUX: Yes, definitely that's what I want to do.

CNN: When's the wedding day?

EDWARDS: We haven't decided yet. We're going to wait until we get the lottery money, and then at that point we can go anywhere in the world and do it, and fly our friends there as well.

CNN: You bet. Private jets. Are you taking it in one lump sum or are you going for the payments?

EDWARDS: Well, on the advice of these advisers, we talked to a tax accountant yesterday and a tax lawyer, and after discussing it with them, I think I'm going to lean toward taking the lump sum.

CNN: We're living vicariously. ... Thanks so much, congratulations. The first winners stepping forward.

EDWARDS: Thank you.