A Tennessee man pulled a folded Powerball ticket from the front pocket of his shirt and told a national television audience on NBC’s “Today” show that he had one of three winning tickets for the world-record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot.
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But John Robinson stopped at a convenience store on the way home from work on Wednesday evening and bought Powerball tickets – even though he didn’t really want to.
At home, he laid out the four tickets, one representing each family member, and took a nap.
They overcame odds of 1 in 292.2 million to land on all the numbers.
Fighting back tears, Lisa Robinson said she never hoped to win the big lottery prize but rather the five numbers that would lead to a million dollar prize that would let her and her husband John pay off their daughter’s student loans and other debts.
Lisa Robinson said they had not had time to think about what they would do with their winnings but that she planned to return on Monday to her job at a dermatologist’s office.
“I was running down the hallway screaming and crying”, Lisa Robinson said.
The prize is roughly $533 million if they choose the lump-sum payment, which is $327.8 million after taxes.
Celebrations continued Thursday outside a Chino Hills 7-Eleven that was one of three stores around the country that sold a winning Powerball ticket – the jackpot worth more than $1.5 billion.
The Robinsons appeared Friday morning on the “Today” show along with their daughter, Tiffany, their lawyer, Joe Townsend, and his daughter, Ilene.
Believing the news to be true, nursing home administrator David Levy said it was a “fantastic” thing to happen for his loyal employee.
The pair said they were in disbelief when the lottery numbers were read and checked them dozens of times.
“My first thought was, I’ve always wanted a horse”, she said.
Appearing on NBC News on Friday morning, they said they had no plans to splurge on a chateau “because you gotta clean them”.
With each state setting its own lottery rules, the Tennessee retailer, located in a Memphis suburb, received $25,000 and the Florida retailer, located in a tiny coastal town, will get $100,000 at an undetermined date, lottery officials said.
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“If it turns out that her kid was playing a prank on her, then that is absolutely reprehensible and disgusting”, Nass said.
