California nurse pranked by son, was not Chino Hills Powerball jackpot victor

John and Lisa Robinson appeared in NBC’s studio and showed a ticket that had the winning numbers from Wednesday night’s record $1.6 billion drawing.

Winning $1.5B Powerball jackpot ticket sold in Chino Hills, lottery officials sayCalifornia Lottery spokesperson Russ Lopez explained that when the victor shows up, an extensive vetting process takes place to make sure they’re the actual victor.

Lottery officials are confirming that a Tennessee couple has one of the three winning Powerball tickets for the $1.6 billion jackpot.

The family then reached out to a friend for financial advice and was put in touch with Joe Townsend, an estate planning and tax attorney in Memphis who had the idea for them to reveal themselves on TODAY. “Even though they want to be private after this is over, they want to let the public know they are the winners”.

Robinson said he and his wife, Lisa, want to pay off the mortgage on their current home, but don’t plan to buy a sprawling chateau or the like because “you gotta clean them”.

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

The couple told the “Today” show that they watched the number drawing live on Wednesday night, and checked the numbers multiple times to ensure that they had won.

The Robinsons would be splitting the prize for a total of $528 million, as there were two other winning tickets sold, one in California and one in Florida.

The jackpot from Wednesday night’s drawing will be split by winners in Tennessee (Robinson family), California and Florida.

Robinson, who works in information technology, said he would take the lump sum. In Florida, winners have just 180 days to claim their winnings – half that if they want the lump sum. “I got to the store, and there was already a completed play slip at the playstation”.

Lottery officials said the couple told them they have “big but realistic plans for their prize” money.

According to the New York State lottery officials, the jackpot was not just the largest in Powerball history but also the largest of any lottery game in the US.

Back at Naifeh’s on Friday, one of the store’s owners handed out $50 bills to employees “with more to come” from the $25,000 prize they got for selling the winning ticket.

“I startled him because he was asleep on the couch, ” Lisa Robinson recalled.

John Robinson said he wasn’t nervous traveling or walking around NY with the piece of paper, worth multimillions, because no one knew he had it.