Powerball player’s family ‘worried’ when she calls in tears — then she says she won
A Powerball player was in tears when she called her family on FaceTime to tell them about her big win.
“When they answered the call they were worried,” she told Maryland lottery officials.
Then she told them she won $1 million.
The Maryland woman missed the $1.13 billion jackpot in the April 3 drawing, but she picked up a second-tier prize of $1 million, the Maryland Lottery said in an April 11 news release.
The Howard County woman told lottery officials her nephew called her the day after the drawing because he knew she often plays Powerball and Mega Millions jackpot games, and he heard someone had won in her area.
“I didn’t expect anything when I eventually scanned the tickets on my Lottery app, even when I saw the odd message,” she told lottery officials.
The trainer was in her studio at the time and pulled up the lottery website to see where the ticket was sold.
“That’s when I got excited,” she said.
She checked the winning Powerball numbers against her own and said, “I just won a million dollars,” she recounted to lottery officials.
She videocalled her husband and kids to tell them what happened.
“I didn’t even realize that I was crying,” she said.
She told lottery officials she plans to use her windfall to pay off debt, buy a new car and put money toward her retirement fund.
“This is an amazing blessing, almost too much to believe,” the winner said.
Other $1 million wins in the April 3 drawing came from tickets purchased in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington state and South Carolina. They all beat the 1-in-11,688,053.52 odds of matching five white balls and missing the red Powerball.
“I know the odds are long, but somebody always eventually wins,” the woman told lottery officials.
Howard County is about a 25-mile drive west from Baltimore.
What to know about Powerball
To score a jackpot in the Powerball, a player must match all five white balls and the red Powerball.
The odds of scoring the jackpot prize are 1 in 292,201,338.
Tickets can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times and price vary by state.
Drawings are broadcast Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:59 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
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