The couple came forward on yesterday with a winning ticket for this week’s record US$1.6 billion Powerball lottery jackpot. “I don’t really want that now”, said his wife, Lisa Robinson, who works in a dermatologist’s office. The three states with Powerball winners from Wednesday’s drawing – California, Florida and Tennessee – require winners to disclose their names, which is the policy of most states that play the game.
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According to WREG, Lisa’s Facebook page lists her as an employee of a dermatology clinic and a graduate of Munford High School., while John’s page lists him as an engineer.
Once he had a good look at the ticket, he wanted to surprise Tiffany, who lives nearby. In a phone call to her boss, Lisa said she would appear for work on Monday.
“Why did you guys come to us first?”, Savannah Guthrie asked John and Lisa Robinson.
The pair from Munford, Tennessee, appeared with their lawyer Joe Townsend on NBS’s “Today” programme on Friday.
The couple bought four tickets at Naifeh’s Food Mart, a grocery store one block from their home at 6:56 p.m. on Wednesday night.
“Who will be coming out of the woodwork?” said Mary Sue Smith. They also have a second home nearby where Robinson “loves to fish”, said Roy Smith, who described them as “fine people”, dependable and hard-working. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the Robinsons claim and lottery officials have so far not announced any winners.
The Florida ticket was sold at a Publix at 3830 Highway A1A in Melbourne Beach in the southeastern part of the state.
The woman’s daughter told the Los Angeles Times that the family “had not won the prize,” and reports suggesting otherwise had been a “misunderstanding based on a photo that was sent to her mother”.
In addition to the jackpot, a Powerball ticket that won $2 million was sold in Dyersburg in Dyer County, two counties north of Tipton County.
They say their lawyer advised them to go on TV first as a way of controlling the story.
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Drivers pass a billboard where the word “billion” has replaced “million” to show the correct amount of the jackpot for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn.
