When he turned in the winning ticket, Carl Hunter became the largest Powerball winner in Louisiana's history. He won the jackpot in January, but the 73-year-old small businessman waited nearly four months to claim the prize.

An avid lottery player, Hunter said he already had bought a Powerball ticket on Jan. 16 at the gas station less than two blocks from his home in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie.

But he stopped at the station again that day to buy milk - at the request of his wife, Dianne - and got a second 'quick pick' ticket.

'I had some change, and one dollar was used to buy this ticket,' Mr Hunter said on Thursday at the Louisiana Lottery headquarters in Baton Rouge, where he claimed his prize.

The couple, surrounded by cameras, was decidedly low-key about the multimillion dollar win, saying they didn't have specific plans for the money - besides retirement and the rebuilding of a camp lost to Katrina.

'I'm retiring, you know, naturally,' Carl Hunter said.

Hunter took a lump sum payment that will give him US$33.9 million after taxes, according to lottery officials.

Asked why he waited so long to turn in the winning ticket, Mr Hunter said he wanted to wrap up some of his construction work and finish his outstanding contracts.

In fact, Hunter's wife Dianne said he was still at work this week.

West Metairie Shell, the gas station where Mr Hunter bought his ticket, will get $25,000 for selling the winning ticket.

The station, tucked among brick ranch homes and raised wooden houses in a middle-class neighbourhood, lost its roof during Katrina, and the store was looted. -- AP