Lottery winner shows up as Darth Vader to collect $650,000 prize money — for a reason we can all get behind

Darth Vader, the "Star Wars" villain and pop culture legend, is known for building an empire, but collecting a cheque for a lottery winner doesn't fit the job description. But, that’s exactly what Jamaicans witnessed when a man named W. Brown collected his check for a whopping $95 million ($650,000 in USD) lottery prize. The Jamaican dressed up as the iconic character, from head to toe, as he received the cheque from Supreme Ventures' Vice President Gail Abrahams.

Brown had purchased the winning ticket at the Di Endz Sports Bar in May Pen but did not tell anyone about the good news. He wanted to get his priorities straight about what he wanted to do with the money first. Coming from a humble background, $650,000 can go a long way in improving his and his family’s standard of living. One thing he was sure about getting, however, was a bus.

"I want to decide what is the best thing to do before spending anything. I need to decide what my goals are, but I know I want to own a bus," he said as per Newsweek. Brown has been picking the same numbers for the last 20 years and it finally paid off. These picks are based on “rakes”, which in Jamaican culture means a premonition or dream that gives one a sign of things to come.

"Life has always been very rough. I come from a poor family, sometimes I couldn't attend school because my parents didn't have it, but I told myself that God will help me one day so I can help my family," he added.

Turns out that God indeed heard his prayers and his premonition turned out to be true. However, there is still the matter of safety. Jamaica does not have the best record when it comes to crime. If everyone knew the identity of a person who had just won $650,000, his life could be in danger. This was not even the first time a lottery winner collected a prize in disguise.

A couple of years before Brown’s win, an individual by the name of N. Gray won the Super Lotto draw from Supreme Ventures and earned more than $180 million. As she went to collect the cheque, she covered her face with a smiling emoji mask.

"Unfortunately, Jamaica is not like other markets. In other markets, they don't necessarily do it, but here I think they opt to do it to keep themselves safe. We are not going to tell them not to do that because their safety is of paramount importance to us as well," Supreme Ventures’ assistant Vice President Simone Clarke-Cooper had said earlier.

Supreme Ventures Limited is one of the leading companies in the lottery industry in the Caribbean today. They currently have around 11 lottery games running. They have been in the market since 1995, meaning that it won’t be long before they celebrate their 30th anniversary.