Robinson said he reached out to his brother for help finding lawyers and financial planners before deciding to take the winnings in a single lump sum of almost $328 million, rather than let the lottery invest the prize and pay him 30 annual installments totaling an estimated $533 million.
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When an incredulous news reporter asked why return to work, Lisa Robinson replied, “Why not?”
During the “Today” show segment, the family said they don’t plan to move, and revealed they had even gone to work on Thursday.
“We’re going to take the lump sum, because we’re not guaranteed tomorrow”, Robinson said.
The lump sum payout is about $327 million. “It affords them that opportunity by getting the lottery scholarship”, Jimmy Naifeh said.
“I was running down the hallway screaming and crying”, Lisa Robinson recalled.
The real California victor has yet to come forward. Those winners have not been announced yet.
The winners of the record jackpot overcame odds of 1 in 292.2 million to land the numbers drawn – 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10.
“I’ll be there Monday, ” Lisa said after calling her supervisor to tell her to tune in to TODAY. “So, I checked them actually four times and I said I’ll believe it when the news comes on in the morning and they say ‘hey, there’s been a victor in Munford, ‘” said John Robinson.
John Robinson says he bought the ticket and three others Wednesday night while on the way home. So he stopped at Naifeh’s Food Market, purchased four tickets at 6:56 p.m. and then drove home and handed them to his wife.
If no one wins tonight, the jackpot will continue to increase and will be close to $50 million for the next drawing on Wednesday night. And hundreds of thousands more made a payment that will in part help state outdoors programs as well as keep lottery prizes funded and keep the ticket sellers’ doors open. Friday afternoon, John Robinson entered the lottery offices in Nashville with his family, still walking the dog by its leash and saying nothing to a scrum of television cameras.
Tennessee Lottery has not verified the ticket, which John Robinson had been keeping in the front pocket of his shirt.
A customer holding Powerball tickets in San Lorenzo, California, Jan. 12, 2016.
Tennessee Lottery officials verified Friday that a longtime resident of the small town of Munford bought one of three tickets winning the world-record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot. The Today show averages about 5 million viewers a day. “I knew that I wanted to get an accountant”.
The mayor says the Robinsons are “deeply rooted Munford citizens” whose parents lived in the town.
NBC was somewhat skeptical of the Robinson’s claim because they had yet to report their win to the Tennessee lottery commission.
A two million dollar winning lottery ticket was sold in Dyersburg at the Smoke Shack, leaving everyone questioning.
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John and Lisa Robinson are the newest millionaires in West Tennessee. A Rechnitz spokesperson tells BuzzFeed that the nurse is a “wonderful lady and an incredible employee” who stayed to finish her shift even when she thought she had won $1.6 billion. The couple is in their middle 50s.
