KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. -- America's latest Powerball winner could be your neighbor or coworker.

A Kings Mountain gas station sold the winning $88 million ticket over the weekend. The winner will be at the North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters on Tuesday and will speak at a news conference at 12:30 p.m.

Residents say the excitement is changing the talk of the town.

"So was it you that bought the big ticket?" asked cashier Dorothy Brooks. "Was it you Henry?"

"I wish," he said.

It's the question of the day at the Petro Express gas station where the owner confirms his store sold the winning ticket.

The $88 million ticket was sold around 5:15 p.m. Friday, the store owner said.

"That's a big deal, really," said neighbor Ron Taylor.

Until now, a Powerball winner was always somewhere else.

"Upper state, Oklahoma, Arizona, not here," Taylor said.

And the winner was always someone else. Now, it could be friends, coworkers or customers.

The odds of winning were 195 million to 1. Neighbors say the timing of this means a lot to the town.

"People are hurting right now," Taylor said.

The area has double-digit unemployment.

"A lot of folks out of work, a lot of plants shut down in Kings Mountain," said resident Charles Adams, Jr.

The typical talk is people wondering how to make ends meet.

"Power bill, water bill, whatever, you know. Just the basic things they have to have to live every day," Taylor said.

Last week's tornadoes damaged people's homes, adding to the woes.

Now, Kings Mountain has a Powerball winner and 88 million reasons to hope that luck is changing.

"Whoever won this, if they were fixing' to lose their home and all of a sudden 'bam,' that would be sweet," Brooks said.

The winner has 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim the prize at the lottery headquarters in Raleigh. Winners can choose to collect the money in 30 payments over 29 years or take a lump-sum payment worth about $42 million minus state and federal taxes. Saturday's winning numbers were 3, 11, 18, 22, 28, and the Powerball number was 33.

This is the second jackpot-winning Powerball ticket in North Carolina. Jackie Alston of Halifax won $74 million in a November 2006 drawing. Lotteries in 30 states sell Powerball tickets, and North Carolina began offering the game in May 2006.