It's been weeks since someone won the $590 million Powerball, but residents of Zephyrhills - the town where the ticket was bought - are dying to learn who the person is behind the win.
People were not surprised when no one came forward the day after the multi-million dollar announcement, but now residents of the small town are getting restless.
"It's hard to keep a secret in this town, but this is one of the biggest mysteries we've had in a long, long time," said one area resident. "Anybody who did not show up for work on that Monday was considered to be the lottery winner.
"If you had the flu and didn't show up for work, everyone thought you were the lottery winner. If you took a personal day or a sick day, they thought you had won the lottery," the resident said.
Joe Abed, the owner of a local Italian restaurant believes the whole thing is one big joke and thinks the ticket was probably purchased by a senior citizen who does not even know they won.
"It's a conspiracy theory," he said. "I believe it's a senior citizen that purchased the ticket and they just have no idea that they won the ticket."
Mayor Danny Burgess is just hoping that the winner is a Zephyrhills resident.
"Just because one person won the lottery, we all feel like we won, that's the kind of community this is," he said. "I absolutely hope for the lottery winner that this is a positive, life-changing event. Only in American can you go to be with a lottery tickets and wake up a mega-millionaire."
Zephyrhills, about 30 miles northeast of Tampa, has a population of 13,337 and prides itself in being a small, "old-timey" town.
