After a month-long fishing vacation in the Florida Keys, James Stocklas and his brother Bob decided to purchase some lottery tickets on their way home.

A Senior District Judge at the time, 67-year-old James discovered that he and two friends had won the $291.4 million jackpot.

James was eating breakfast at his usual restaurant, checking the lottery numbers, when he realized that he had won the Powerball jackpot.

Bob was slightly less fortunate, winning a modest $7.

James opted for the lump sum payment instead of the total annuity, valued at $191 million.

James had purchased $10 worth of tickets at the Tom Thumb station in Marathon on Wednesday, as reported by Lehigh Valley Live, at the same time his brother, Bob Stocklas, also bought his ticket.

The former judge maintained a long tradition of pooling money for weekly lottery ticket purchases with two of his friends, Barry Bartikovits and a woman who preferred to be known only as Anna, as reported by the New York Daily News.

However, it wasn't until James returned to Pennsylvania that he discovered the significant win.

He was having breakfast at his favorite diner, joined by his friend Anna, when he checked the numbers on his phone.

James Stocklas told the Daily News: 'Then it was chaos in the restaurant. I looked at her (Anna) and we were jumping up and down.' 

After the discovery he bought breakfast for everyone at the restaurant and promptly called his family to say: 'We are going back to Florida!'

James asked a friend who owns a private jet business to fly him back to Florida in one day to verify his ticket - a trip that cost him $20,000.

The elated judge described the day as a 'blur' of champagne and signing papers.

James Stocklas went home with a total of $40 million after splitting the winnings three ways and accounting for taxes.