Steve Peot, a truck driver from Green Bay, Wis., took a chance when he bought a lottery ticket in Wisconsin on Sept. 5. Peot had no idea the purchase would be his ticket to winning more money than the number of miles he has driven in almost 25 years.
“This really is unbelievable,” says Peot, 45, who presented the Wisconsin Lottery with the only winning ticket from the $29.1 million Powerball drawing of Sept. 5. “I don’t play that often,” says Peot, who purchased the winning ticket at a Superstore in De Pere. “Sometimes when the jackpots are really up there.”
Peot, who chose the jackpot’s cash option lump sum payment of $13.7 million, says he’s not sure what he’s going to do with the money. “Just keep on keepin’ on, I guess,” he says. Peot, who is married with two teenage children and another child on the way, says he intends to continue living in Green Bay.
Peot is the second trucker to win big this year; Ed Nabors of Rocky Face, Ga., brought home about $80 million after taxes in March. With the jackpot at only $29.1 million, Peot says he didn’t know why he chose to play the $5 quick pick ticket for the comparatively small sum. “It was just on a whim,” he says.
