“I am a little overwhelmed and excited”, Lisa Robinson said during the afternoon press conference.
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Lawyers who have represented other winners advise against going public until they have made plans with experts in tax law, financial planning, privacy, security and other safeguards to protect themselves and their winnings.
The Robinsons opted to take the lump sum.
The Robinsons said they are taking the lump sum, which is $328 million.
John and Lisa Robinson, of Munford, Tennessee, appeared on Friday morning in NY with the ticket they said entitled them to a piece of the $1.6bn prize. They then called and woke the school’s principal, who met them at school that night so they could retrieve the tickets. They also say they will go to work on Monday. Those winners have not been announced yet.
Robinson said he stopped at Naifeh’s Wednesday night, went home, handed the ticket to his wife and went to lay down because he wasn’t feeling well.
“I checked the ticket and saw that we won”, Kathryn told the Maryland Lottery. They only play the Powerball when the jackpot gets high.
The couple, along with their daughter Tiffany and dog Abby, were greeted at the door by Tennessee Lottery President and CEO Rebecca Hargrove.
As CBS2’s Brian Conybeare reported, John and Lisa Robinson are from a very small town.
Crowds descended on the California store that sold a winning ticket, with customers snapping pictures and congratulating the sales associate. They planned to do that immediately after their appearance in the Today show’s NY studio.
The family said they were going straight from the Today show to the Powerball offices to verify their winning ticket, noting that they’d only told their immediate family. Florida gives winners six months to come forward before transferring 80 percent of unclaimed prizes to an educational trust fund, and 20 percent into a pool for future lottery prizes. Two others were sold in Tennessee and Florida.
Neighbors say John and Lisa Robinson live in the small town of Munford.
The couple, in their 50s, posted with a giant check worth $528.8 million.
The Robinsons said their first order of business is to pay off their daughter’s student loans, then the mortgage on their house and other bills. Their neighborhood is a quiet, close-knit suburb of well-kept single family homes.
Robinson did say that he had signed the back of the ticket, showing his ownership of it.
The owner of a convenience store owner in Tennessee has received a $US25,000 dollar bonus cheque for selling one of three winning Powerball tickets. News of a possible victor in California was quickly deflated Friday when that feel-good tale was described as a prank.
Rechnitz bought 18,000 tickets for his employees and residents of the dozens of nursing homes he owns in the state. The Los Angeles Times reports the daughter asked to remain anonymous to avoid drawing more attention to her family. They later verified that win by turning in their winning ticket and posing for a photoshoot with a big check. She was with them at the Tennessee Education Lottery headquarters when they claimed their winning ticket.
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A group of 11 coworkers from a Kentucky school system won $1 million in Wednesday’s Powerball drawing.
