Tennessee Powerball winners plan to return to work Monday

John Robinson told Today Show hosts that he was on his way home from work Wednesday night when his wife, Lisa, called to ask if he was going to buy lottery tickets.

The Robinsons, self-proclaimed “common-folks” from a small city about 30 miles north of Memphis, said they’ll opt to take the lump sum – just over $327 million.

The big Powerball lottery draw had attracted plenty of ticket buyers across the country as many waited in line for a chance to dream of what they’d buy.

Lottery officials aren’t investigating any claims of winners who go online, Traverso said.

Ilene Townsend, the lawyer’s daughter, was able to contact the “Today” show’s producers.

“Actually, (I was) a little scared because I didn’t know exactly what do to”, he said.

But wait, a co-worker told her, you may want to look at your ticket because someone bought a winning $1 million ticket at the Wawa store on Urbana Pike in Frederick. The 62-year-old registered nurse in California who thought she won after her boss gave her one of 180,000 tickets he purchased for all of his nursing-home employees and residents turned out to be a hoax. Her son pranked her.

Robinson said he bought the winning ticket at his wife’s request at the family-owned Naifeh’s grocery on his way home from work Wednesday night, then went to sleep.

He said he didn’t feel like stopping, but told his wife he would stop and get the tickets.

“I never would’ve thought I’d spend half my day [Thursday] trying to shoot down all these insane stories about how they won”, said Alex Traverso, a California State Lottery spokesman.

He says they appreciate community, family values and have always lived within their means.

The jackpot was $1.58 billion, and each victor will be entitled to a $528,800,000 share if they choose the annuitized version.

It appears that the holders of the two other winning tickets are yet to be identified.

“I’m a firm believer in tithing to my church”, Robinson said in an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show.

“You can’t just sit down and do nothing anymore”, John Robinson said.

The winners bought their tickets in the small working class town of Munford, Tennessee; in the quiet Los Angeles suburb of Chino Hills; and at a supermarket in affluent Melbourne Beach, on Florida’s Space Coast. “I don’t want that now”, Lisa Robinson said. Winners must present their tickets to lottery officials for verification.

John and Lisa Robinson insisted Friday they are just ordinary, small town folks.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

California Lottery officials confirmed a winning ticket for the record-breaking Powerball jackpot drawn on Wednesday was sold at a Chino Hill’s 7-Eleven.