A Tennessee couple holding one of three winning tickets for this week’s record $1.6 billion U.S. Powerball lottery jackpot said on Friday they will keep their jobs because “you just can’t sit down and do nothing”.
Advertisement
Lottery officials are confirming that a Tennessee couple has one of the three winning Powerball tickets for the $1.6 billion jackpot.
The family flew to NY to reveal their good fortune on the TODAY Show Friday morning after their lawyer suggested they go public before getting the ticket verified.
The Robinsons, who live in Munford, have not decided whether they will take the annuitized or cash payout version of the jackpot, they said at a news conference at the Tennessee lottery headquarters in Nashville.
Kathryn and Ricardo, winners of one of the second-tier $1 million Powerball prizes, said that they were planning on throwing away their “losing” tickets after hearing there were no jackpot winners in Maryland. “They want to let the public know they’re the winners”.
A Pomona nurse identified by her employer as the victor of the record-breaking Powerball jackpot did not win, her family told ABC News.
The Robinsons said they have no plans to leave Munford, the town about 25 miles north of Memphis where they both went to high school.
Lisa took the ticket to her husband, who she woke up to check the numbers after the Powerball drawing Wednesday night.
After Wednesday night’s drawing, group member Angel Lawrence checked the numbers from copies she’d made of the tickets.
“We just wanted a little piece of the pie”, said John, but “I’m really grateful we got a big piece of the pie”.
The two other winning tickets were sold in Chino Hills, California, and Melbourne Beach, Florida, but the winners there have not been named. “I knew that I wanted to get an accountant”. They’ll share the $1.6 billion prize after the lottery game in 44 USA states didn’t have any winners for two straight months.
For Kathryn, Thursday morning – the day after the big drawing – was just another day, she told lottery officials.
The Robinsons said their lawyer advised them appear on national TV even before presenting the ticket to lottery officials, as a way to “control” the story.
“That’s what we’ve done all our lives, is work”, Robinson said.
Winners have up to a year to claim their prize.
Advertisement
“I startled him because he was asleep on the couch, ” Lisa Robinson recalled. “Now I’ll be nervous, because everybody knows!” he said.
