杰克·惠特克,55岁,本是乡下穷小子的他经过一路打拼,在美国西弗吉尼亚州斯科特迪波特建立起了一家水管道工程公司,成了一名百万富翁。然而,就在2002年圣诞节清晨,惠特克从睡梦中醒来的那一刻,他的大半生辛劳与他钱包里的一张纸片相比,突然变得微不足道了。这是一张他在哈里肯镇便利店花1美元购买的强力球彩票,奖金额度高达3.149亿美元,独中头奖的惠特克成为美国彩票历史上最大的个人赢家。惠特克在之后的新闻发布会上说: Jack Whitaker, 55, a poor man in the country, worked hard to establish a water pipe engineering company in Scottsdale, West Virginia, as a millionaire. However, as soon as Whitaker woke up in the early hours of Christmas 2002, most of his life was starkly trivial compared to a piece of paper in his wallet. Here’s a Powerball lottery ticket he spent $ 1 on a Harlek Town convenience store, with $ 314.9 million in prize money, and Whitman, the winner of the first prize, became the biggest personal winner in the history of lottery in the United States. Whitaker said at a later press conference: