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.
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On Wednesday night state lottery officials announced Naifeh’s sold Tennessee’s jackpot winning ticket, netting the grocery store a $25,000 prize as part of the designation.
The other two winning tickets were sold in Chino Hills, California, and Melbourne Beach, Florida. Talking seriously with experts in tax law, financial planning, privacy, security and other safeguards can help keep them, and their winnings, safe, they say.
There were signs the Robinsons know at least some of the risks.
Both John, 58, and Lisa Robinson confirmed that they plan on continuing to work at their jobs.
“Who will be coming out of the woodwork?” “He woke up in a dead sleep, and he’s all startled, you know, ‘What?”
“You never know if you’ll be here tomorrow”, John Robinson told a throng of reporters at the Tennessee Lottery headquarters in Nashville. The couple said that they would drive back to Tennessee to cash in their ticket immediately after the interview.
“We’ve been there forever”, Mrs Robinson said. John works at a maintenance distribution centre and Lisa for a dermatologist. The couple is in their middle 50s.
Their daughter Tiffany, a recent college graduate, wanted to pay off her student loans and buy a horse.
Townsend, who is a big TODAY fan, had his daughter, Eileen, reach out to the show to see if the couple could make the announcement on Friday. “I’m having a wonderful time here”.
Wednesday night’s winners beat the 1 in 292 million odds to win the $1.586 billion jackpot.
John Robinson said that while on his way home from work Wednesday his wife asked him to pick up Powerball tickets.
He bought four tickets, one for each family member, then gave them to his wife and went to lie down after he got home. Rechnitz’s spokesperson said the nurse was given a ticket by her boss, who bought 18,000 tickets for his employees and residents at 80 nursing home across California.
Speaking to NBC, Lisa said: “I looked again”.
He added: “I’ll believe it when the news comes on in the morning and they say there’s a victor down in Munford”.
“Big fancy houses are nice but you’ve also got to clean them”, John Robinson said.
The woman’s daughter, however, said the reports were caused by a confusion around a photo of a ticket that was sent to her mother, reports LA Times. The computer chose the winning numbers of 04, 08, 19, 27, 34 and Powerball 10.
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Those who have winning tickets can call the Michigan Lottery Public Relations Division at 517-373-1237 to schedule an appointment to collect their prize.
