Couple who claims to have winning Powerball ticket appears on Today Show

The couple bought the ticket at Naifeh’s Food Mart, a grocery store one block from their home, at 6:56 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Managers at a Southern California nursing home said they have the best boss ever – claiming that one of the 18,000 Powerball tickets he bought for employees and patients won a split of the $1.5 billion jackpot for a senior nurse.

He said he wasn’t feeling well when he arrived at home.

When the clerk told her it was too large to cash the prize, Kathryn said: “I knew it was really happening”. When she realized there was a match, she checked three more times before alerting her husband.

“I was running down the hallway screaming and crying”, Lisa Robinson recalled.

John Robinson said he wanted to keep the news private, but his attorney, Joe Townsend, advised them to go to the Today Show to make the announcement.

The winning ticket was confirmed by Tennessee lottery officials Friday afternoon.

They overcame odds of 1 in 292.2 million to land on all the numbers.

“The winning ticket for the Tennessee victor was sold right here at Naifeh’s”, Tennessee Lottery president Rebecca Hargrove said Thursday. Since the player purchased the Power Play option for $1 extra per play, the prize was doubled, making the ticket worth $100,000, according to a news release from the Lottery Commission. State lottery officials could not immediately be reached Friday morning.

The winning numbers, announced Wednesday night, were 4-8-19-27-34 and with 10 as the Powerball.

Three unremarkable towns in California, Florida and Tennessee achieved overnight celebrity status on Thursday as the places where a trio of winning Powerball jackpot tickets were sold, even as the identities of those who will share the record $1.6 billion prize remained a mystery.

“When I heard about the billion dollar Powerball jackpot, I chose to try my luck and buy a ticket”, said Walker.

“Thank you to everyone who participated in this historic event”, said Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson.

Florida Lottery officials are still waiting for the victor of the jackpot to come forward.

“So from the run, from November until last night, 28 tickets in Minnesota matched four numbers plus the Powerball to win $50,000”, Hoffman said.