The Powerball winner collecting his giant check in Pierre on Friday.

A 23-year-old South Dakota rancher whose family has bought and sold scrap metal to make it through tough times claimed a $232.1 million Powerball prize Friday, the ninth largest jackpot ever won in the multistate lottery game. Neal Wanless works with his parents on the 320-acre family ranch about 11 miles east of Mission in Todd County, an area of rolling green pastures, grazing cattle, fields of crops - and some of the deepest poverty in the nation.

The prize was from the May 27 drawing. At a ceremony Friday, Wanless thanked everyone for being patient, saying he had a lot to think about after winning the jackpot. He says he talked with his family and his advisers and will be happy to answer questions later.

"At this point, however, I need some time to let this sink in." he said. "I want to thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity and blessing me with this great fortune. I will not squander it. I was born in Winner, grew up in central South Dakota, graduated from Todd County High School and intend to help those who need it most. My family has been helped by the community, and I intend to repay that help many times over."

Wanless said he wants to continue ranching but might do so on a little bigger ranch of his own.

Wanless and his parents, Arlen and Nancy, had not made any public statements since winning the jackpot in the May 27 drawing, but word spread quickly in the area that the family had won. Friends and neighbors described them as a family that has worked hard but had little money, losing their mobile home when it was repossessed last year and owing back property taxes on the ranch.

"They are all good, hardworking people. I hope they enjoy their money," said Cathy Vrbka, a family friend and the county assessor. "They work hard, backbreaking hard work."

Dave Assman, an owner of a local farm implement dealership who also owns farm land next to the Wanless family, said he is happy that money will no longer be a problem for them.

"They've been real short on finances for a long time," Assman said. "They are from real meager means, I guess you'd say."

The lottery ticket is worth $232.1 million if taken in annual payments over three decades, but Wanless chose to receive the jackpot as a onetime cash prize of just slightly more than $118 million. After federal taxes are withheld, he will receive a payment of $88.5 million.

Wanless and his parents bought the winning ticket May 26 during a 35-mile trip to Winner to pick up a load of livestock feed. They usually bought $3 in Powerball tickets but bought $15 in tickets that day because of the size of the jackpot. The winning numbers represent the day and month of Wanless' birthday and birthdays of his brother and grandfather.

Wanless said he was shocked when he checked the ticket the day after the drawing and discovered he had won. He said he has kept busy on the family ranch in the past week because a hay baler had to be fixed, a tractor had to be picked up from a repair shop and other work needed to be done.

And Wanless has dreamed of ranching on a bigger spread. He said he recently told his horse, Eleanor, that "It'd be nice if we go for a longer ride than usual on a bigger ranch of our own."

Wanless graduated from high school in 2004 as salutatorian, second in his class of 64 students. He has an older brother, James.

Doris Haveman, who works at Klein School, the country school where Wanless attended from kindergarten through eighth grade, said he went to college but eventually returned home to the ranch.

"He was a very likable student," Haveman said. "He was a well-behaved kid, very well behaved."

After graduating, Neal Wanless went to college , though Haveman didn't know where, but eventually returned to the home place. "He went to school for a while but came back to his folks."

She said the family was very private. The Wanless ranch home is in a grove of trees on the east side of Todd County, ranked the seventh-poorest county in the nation in 2007 U.S. Census Bureau figures. Much of the county is tribal land governed by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Deeded land like the Wanless ranch is under the legal jurisdiction of the state.

The family has raised cattle, sheep and horses on the ranch, which covers a half square mile, small in comparison to most operations in the area.

But neighbors said Arlen Wanless, 54, has made money in recent years mainly by attending auctions to buy scrap metal, which he then resells.

Dan Clark, an auctioneer from Winner and a friend of more than two decades, said Arlen Wanless would help him at many auctions by buying a pile of stuff no one else wanted. Sometimes that junk held valuable antiques or collectible items, he said.

"Over the last 20 years, Arlen's bailed me out a lot of times," Clark said. The iron business goes through cycles, and Wanless had trouble making money when prices dropped, Clark said.

Some neighbors complained and took action when Arlen Wanless failed to control the prairie dogs on his land and the critters spread to those neighbors' property. State Agricultural Department records show those neighbors signed a complaint in 2005 to force the Wanless ranch to poison the prairie dogs.

Todd County records show that the family owes $3,552 in property taxes on the 360 acres of land for taxes payable in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Since word spread that the Wanless family had won the lottery jackpot, the gate to the dirt driveway that leads to the family home has been closed and padlocked.

The winning ticket was purchased at the Ampride convenience store, which will get a $50,000 bonus for selling the lucky ticket. Sharon Ulmer, manager of the store, said she is glad the Wanless family won.

"From what I understand they don't have a lot, so the money definitely went to a good place," Ulmer said. "I know it went to a good home. They can use it."

Associated Press Writer Carson Walker in Pierre contributed to this story.