Category: lottery

Powerball lottery ticket

Powerball lottery ticket, according to Kentucky Lottery officials, worth $128.6 million dollars was sold prior to Saturday night’s drawing. Up to this point. The powerball lottery ticket remains unclaimed and only today, Monday the 28th December, will officials be able to narrow down which business the ticket was sold in.

$128.6 Million Powerball Lottery Ticket Sold in Ky.

Anyone who bought a Powerball lottery ticket in Kentucky is going to want to double-check it. Kentucky lottery officials say there was a single $128.6 million winning Powerball ticket sold in Georgetown, making it the largest jackpot ever won in Kentucky.

Kentucky Lottery spokesman Chip Polston said that prior to this jackpot, the largest jackpot won in Kentucky was $89.3 million in January, 1996. He said the last Powerball winner in the state was December 12, 2007, when a Bullitt County man won $33.6 million.

Lucky Powerball Player Hits The Jackpot

The Powerball jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing will be reset to $20 million. Lottery officials said a ticket sold in Kentucky won a $128.6 million jackpot in Saturday night’s drawing. One ticket in Florida matched five numbers, but not the Powerball number, to win $200 thousand.

The winning numbers were 32-36-37-41-52 and the Powerball number was 30. Thousands of tickets matched lesser winning Powerball combinations.

Winning Powerball lottery ticket sold in Georgetown, Ky.

Someone is holding a ticket for the largest Powerball ticket ever sold in Kentucky — $128.6 million.

Chip Polston, spokesman for the Kentucky Lottery, said Sunday that the winning ticket for Saturday’s Powerball jackpot was sold in Georgetown but that the holder or holders of the ticket have yet to come forward.

Lottery officials also couldn’t identify the store where the ticket was sold until Monday for security reasons, he said.

“We can’t wait to greet our first Powerball jackpot winner in two years,” Polston said. The odds of winning Saturday’s jackpot were more than 1 in 195 million.

The largest jackpot won previously in Kentucky was $89.3 million awarded in January 1996, and the last Powerball win in the state was in Dec. 12, 2007, when a Bullitt County man claimed a $33.6 million jackpot.

A $128.6 million powerball lottery ticket was sold in Georgetown, Kentucky and at this point, as one of the largest state jackpots ever won, it has not been claimed.

It’s been close to two weeks now since the official announcement stating that the winning ticket of the $254.2 Million lotto game was sold in the state of Connecticut.

Yet so far no one has come forward to claim what would be the state’s biggest promotions, with a Winning Powerball Ticket cash prize of monsterous proportions. Officials are beginning to suspect that the USA Powerball Lotto ticket was lost, misplaced, or thrown away.

Officials are even asking folks to go look in drawers, purses, wallets, pockets or inside the car because the winning ticket just has a 180 day life, and after the six months are gone (on Wednesday April 30, 2012), the ticket will expire and become quite useless.

USA Powerball Lotto

If the ticket is unsigned, then it’s the old “finders-keepers” rule, so just because you haven’t played, doesn’t mean that you can’t win if you happen to find the winning ticket and sign it first.

Overall odds of winning the USA Powerball Lotto jackpot prize are 1 in 195,249,054.

Good luck on your treasure hunt Connecticut!

Unlike the millions of teenagers who would pay money to leave their families for independence, an 18 year old UK teenage lottery winner has decided to spend part of her winnings on a family home and to remain living there with her brother.

The teenage lottery winner‘s parents who currently live on the dole in one of the finest council homes on a lavish estate in the best part of Hackney, London along with her younger sister and brother.

The newest millionaire will purchase a stylish and expensive house and remain living there, even planning a construction of a separate bathroom within her own suite.

The family’s current council home has but one toilet, so in the morning rush for the dole lines, disability and welfare benefits, there was always a large queue for the bathroom.

“It didn’t really sink in at first, I just thought I had won some money and then when I found out I rang my family and they were crying down the phone. It’s been a struggle and things like that, it has always been quite tight.”

Teenage lottery winner

“When I told my younger sister I had some ‘big news’ for her and to sit down, she said, You are pregnant? You’ve been shagging like a cat in heat all month with them Jamaican boys. I burst out laughing and said, ‘No, I’ve won the lottery’.”

The 1 in 14 million chance of winning has come at the right time for the teenage lottery winner, according to Stacey. Stacey also plans to buy her older sister Kirsty, 21, a home for her and her young son Alfie due to the fact that she’s recently been made redundant.

The wait is over and the mystery lottery jackpot winners of the biggest EuroMillions jackpot have come forward.

Colin and Chris Weir of Ayrshire, Scotland beat the astronomical odds to pick up a cool (and untaxed) £161,653,000 ($250,000,000) check at MacDonald Inchyra Hotel in Polmont, near Falkirk after winning the lottery jackpot.

Mr. Colin Weir, 64, has worked as a Studio Manager and TV cameraman for the past 23 years while Mrs. Chris Weir, 55, is a retired psychiatric nurse.

They were married for 30 years, are avid football supporters and like the rest of Scotland bought their lucky lottery jackpot tickets hoping for the best The couple has a girl and a boy, now in their early 20’s (she is a single dancer/writer and he is in telephone-sales) .

Colin, who claims to never drink was hitting the bottle of single malt £800 Scotch like an old pro when he described the feeling of learning that the rest of his life will be nothing but peaches and cream from the lottery jackpot money – “When we first kent we won, it felt like a dream. Everything spun around likes in slow motion. But it feels like a good thing, ken? Something we is no afraid of likes, but for us to enjoy with the bairns. ”

At this point his wife took over as Mr. Colin began chugging champagne like a thirsty Loch Nest monster.

“We now have so many new opportunities to explore but we won’t spend a lot of the lottery jackpot money. For us, it will be a gradual change with choices to be made,” Scotland’s newest millionaire said.

Lottery jackpot makes everything allright

“All our lives we have lived within our means and been comfortable. We appreciate that this lottery jackpot money brings about a whole new life for us and our family.

We would like to say ‘God Bless’ and good luck.

Swedish lottery winners brothers from Gothenburg who are studying Farming at an undergraduate level just became Sweden’s newest millionaires.

The brothers, from a poor background are both overloaded with university loans and since they were children, they always dreamed about becoming potato farmers.

The Swedish lottery winners, on the way back to their tiny flat from class, they decided to spend $100 on a package of lottery tickets. Perhaps it wasn’t the smartest move in the world, but for these wonder twins it was a decision of a lifetime. The drawing was for one of the biggest lotto jackpots in Swedish history at a jaw dropping $11,416,526 dollars.

The twins are extremely shy and private and demanded complete anonymity from Svenska Spel, the Swedish owned government gambling monopoly, prior to picking up their check for the prize.

Swedish lottery winners are gamblers at heart

The brothers, who are studying the latest methods of potato farming, completely forgot about the tickets until the following week. Svenska Spel already knew there was a winner and very surprised that nobody was showing up for so long to pick up the prize. Eventually the brothers called at noon after they checked their tickets and saw the winning one.

The brother would only say “Since we are studying both of the money so amazingly perfect. Now we can solve this loan and do not think about it. So it feels great. Then we will certainly give us a trip. But above all, this win put cruelly gold in daily life, where money is well on our accounts. Being Swedish lottery winners is great!”

Indeed it is, indeed it is.

A man in Michigan, the big lottery winner, still receives a government welfare subsidy created to help the poor – despite winning a $2 million state lottery with the full blessing of the US government and in fact loves casinos and gambles with the taxpayer money

Leroy Fick, the lottery winner, is unapologetic and frankly spoke to reporters about his mooching off the gullible program. Leroy’s motto is – ‘If it’s free, it’s for me and morality is for philosophers.’

The same prevalent way of thinking has proven time and time again why people such as the big lottery winner can get over on the system. Our safety net is but a dream carried on the backs of hard working citizens who must pay taxes to support elite gamblers like Leroy Fick

Leroy, who is a Caucasian, told reports that he notified the agency upon becoming a big lottery winner, and was told that he could continue to collect the schmorgasbord of tax payer funded food each week for the rest of his life. Leroy is 54 and looks healthy as a shark.

Big Lottery Winner Enjoying Life

It turns out that according to US poverty guidelines, winning the lottery and becoming the big lottery winnerbig lottery winner is considered a ‘liquid asset’ and not ‘personal income’ and thus doesn’t count when calculating a person’s poverty level. It’s no wonder that with rules like these that the entire world wants to run to the United States.

In another slap in the face for the American taxpayer, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) took almost 50% of the winnings in taxes as personal income despite the big lottery winner smirking right at them.

Tourist wins big in Philippines

Tourist wins big, a cool $1 million on his birthday vacation in Philippines, calls it the best birthday gift he ever had. Mr. Joe decided to buy a lottery ticket after purchasing some beer at a shopping store next to his hotel.

Mr. Joe., an Australian citizen, purchased the ‘pick 6’ lottery tickets more out of habit than forethought. Back home, in Melbourne, Mr. Joe has been playing the weekly lottery as far back as he can remember. So even on vacation in Angel City Philippines, he couldn’t resist doing the same.

The day was Friday the 13th and Mr. Joe remembers joking with some friends at the local bar that the night before he had a dream that a tourist wins big , what they jokes was the number one prize in Philippines. He later forgot all about the lottery tickets as he was spending the full month partying and celebrating his 50th birthday.

When a few days later he ran across the tickets, he checked the numbers online only to discover that he won 43,017,157.80 in local currency – which is the equivalent of exactly 1 million US dollars.

Tourist wins big and natives are restless

There are no provisions in the Philippines gambling laws to forbid foreign residents or any language that a tourist wins big. A number of community activist groups are howling with rage, demanding changes.

Large groups of poor locals are hot mad over the foreigner’s win as well. The locals, who live on the equivalent of 50 cents daily, feel it is unfair for a rich foreign tourist to win so much money.

We wish Mr. Joe the best of luck getting outside Manila, and hope that tourists wins big again in what is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world, alive with the million dollars. Online Online sports betting businesses are paying 50 to 1 odds if you think the lottery winner will not be able to get out of the country alive.

More news to follow on this developing story.

Lottery Stories

Lottery stories can often make outsiders feel warm, others definitely don’t. A year ago, Ms. Kneen and Mr. Crockford of Canberra, Australia were happy in love; just another couple in their mid-twenties, strolling through the park, holding hands and whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears.

Today, the Federal Magistrates Court concluded a vicious yearlong battle over the ownership of a $3 million dollar lottery ticket that Ms. Kneen purchased along with Mr. Crockford.

In reality, there were no strolls in the local park for Ms. Kneen, unless it was to visit her heroin dealing, pimp x-boyfriend Hassan, or to sell her body for another sweet shot of bliss. Mr. Crockford, who made his daily bread robbing drug dealers at the same park, met Ms. Kneen after a particularly successful heist.

It was love at first sight.

For the next three years the couple has been off and on living together between frequent drug relapse, prostitution arrests and endless police visits for domestic violence.

Lottery Stories – Lovers become Enemies

Exactly a year ago Ms. Kneen bought a Powerball ticket on the way back to the flat she shared with Mr. Crockford, when she learnt she had won $3 million.

The couple went to Melbourne together to pick up the winning and the check was even made payable to his bank account. A week later Hassan the pimp, and Mr. Crockford’s baby mama convinced each of their former partners to take all the money and run.

The money was frozen until this week Magistrate Stuart Lindsay made a ruling as to the ownership of the lotto ticket. The Magistrate said both parties were ”very poor witnesses” who lied to help their own cases.

”Whoever bought the lotto ticket that day, there was an understanding that it was a joint ticket and that they would share the winnings,” the Magistrate ruled.

$1,600,000 was awarded to Ms. Kneen since she earned less than her former lover, Mr. Crockford, who was awarded $1,400,000.

A lucky married couple from North York in the State of New York won $15,347,907 from Lotto 6/49 after playing the same numbers each week for the past 30 years.

Despite looking as happy as if told the world will end in 10 minutes when stuck in traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, the couple said they are smiling inside. Mama Mia! If they are smiling inside, they deserve an Oscar for Best Performance because I’ve seen a deer’s expression in the headlights one time, right before my new Mini Truck vaporized it, and the deer looked happier. I was on the way home to play a special tournament at Millionaire Casino, an excellent establishment.

The family has a ritual, every Sunday morning; they wake up and practice smiling. That’s a joke. Relax. Aye?!?

So, as I was saying, every Sunday morning, about 7a.m, the husband, Bob Maggiacomo, goes down to the corner bodega to check his numbers. He did it the past Sunday, and did not even win one dollar.

Then he takes a closer looks at the winning numbers, and he thinks them the same numbers his wife plays every week for 30 years. So he goes and wakes up his wife, Eleanor Canavan. Not even a hyphenated Maggiacomo-Canavan but plain old Canavan. No respect no more!

His wife plays a combination of their birthdays, and they look at the internet, and what do you know, they won! Well since it was Easter and all they had to wait till Tuesday. They signed the ticket and left it right there o the dresser in full sight. Now that’s not smart. If someone breaks in and finds such a rare artifact, and sign it they gotta dig a hole again or give him a third of the share.

I guess Shaquan, Vinny Ungats or Chivalos weren’t working that day because nobody stole it. They got the check on Tuesday, and are thinking of going to Nino’s for the sauce and linguine with 40 neighborhood friends. They said they plan to move to Bensonhurst in Brooklyn and live there retired.

So the moral of the story is, that you have to play to win! I play only at Millionaire Casino and win big. They use Vegas Technology, accept Americans and is one the most trusted names in the industry. They have a special promotion today, so go look, it hits the spot.

Two friends and co-workers from Indiana, who now describe themselves as retired welders, are splitting the $221.7 million dollar Powerball jackpot. The two buddies who have the appearance and demeanor of Abbot & Costello or Laurel & Hardy have been pooling $4 each Wednesday, playing the Hoosier Lotto for the past seven years that they’ve been working together at Munich Welding Inc.

On April 6, It was Darin Fox’s turn. The 32 year old unmarried welder (the skinny guy in the photo), who lives with his mama and enjoys hunting and super sized trucks was attracted by the 200 million dollar Powerball sign.

So this week on a lark, he decided to spend $2 on the regular Hoosier game and invest the other $2 for a Powerball ticket. Hel let the machine chose the numbers. “The sign with the amount was what made the decision for me to split it up,” Fox said Thursday.

When the next morning he saw the numbers hit he called in sick from work and has been on a vacation ever since. He called his buddy Todd Reardon, 38 and married with an 11 year old son who enjoys big trucks, hunting and cooks a mean BBQ, (the big guy in photo) who at first wouldn’t believe his friend.

“I said boy, boy you lying like a gutter snake in the chicken coop. You been smoking the devil lettuce again or hitting the hooch like that time you climbed on top of papy’s pig barn naked as a jaybird hollering that you is George Washington? Put your mama on the phone so she can slap some sense into your thick head,” said the ever joking newest multi-millionaire Mr. Todd Reardon.

The men took the lump sum payment and aftet feed and taxes, each received a cool $40,000,000 check. The men will owe additional taxes but have already hired lawyers, investment advisors and money managers to make sure they will never have to weld stainless steel toilets again.

Both winners only play single hand Jackpot Deuces video poker and enjoy playing online poker as well.The men said they plan to buy bigger trucks, homes for their families, and lots of hunting land.

Seven lucky Computer Geeks somehow figured out a way to crack the 176 million to 1 odds to win the monster $319 million Dollar Mega-Millions Lotto Jackpot.

The seven computer nerds, who work in Albany, New York for the Homes & Community Renewal Agency, are each expected to walk away with $19,100,000 in cash after taxes.

The yet unidentified ‘Lucky Seven’ are consulting financial planners, attorneys and are currently holed up at an undisclosed location. Sources report that the winners range in age from mid-twenties to mid-fifties, and include a 54-year old man who earns $75k a year, a 41 year old woman earning $85K a year.

Since lotto tickets are considered a ‘bearer instrument’, same as cash money, the lotto commissioner is advising the lucky winners to sign the winning ticket as quickly as possible. “If the owner lost an unsigned winning lotto ticket, the finder could simply sign it and claim the money,” the lotto commissioner said.

The winning ticket is safely deposited inside the vault of one of Albany’s largest banks, according to sources connected with the winners. The winners have up to 365 days from today’s date to claim the prize, which is the third largest in US History.

“Ninety-nine percent of the people coming in winners do it that way these days. Three-hundred and nineteen million is an unimaginable amount of money. Most want a plan before they get their hands on the money,” said state lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman.

Mega millions winners

Mega millions winners and the lucky owners of one of the two winning tickets sold in the 360 million dollar (£246m), 42 state Mega Millions lotto stepped forward on January 8, to claim half of the cash prize. The $360 million prize, the second largest in US history, will be evenly split between Jim & Carolyn McCullar and the yet unknown individual who can produce the second winning ticket.

Jim McCullar, 68, chose the winning numbers (4, 8, 15, 25, 47, and Mega Ball 42) at a Safeway Supermarket in his hometown of Ephrata, a tiny enclave of 7500 residents in the eastern part of Washington State.

Curiously, the yet unclaimed second winning ticket was sold just 120 miles away, at a rural potato farming community of Post Falls, Idaho. In a second strange twist, the first three winning numbers (4, 8, 15 and Mega Ball 42) were a major part of the plot of the mega millions winners number one rated American TV show: Lost.

Mega millions winners: over 23 grandchildren

Jim McCullar arrived with his wife of 42 years and just eight dollars in his pocket to pick up the oversized 190 million dollar check. The retired couple has six children, 23 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

The lucky mega millions winners have 2 months to decide whether to accept a lump sum of $90 million (after the 25% federal tax) or 26 installments of $5.5 million each year.

Idaho has a state tax unlike Washington; so the lump sum will be just 83 million dollars for the second, yet unknown winner. The mysterious second winner has just 190 days to produce the mega millions winners ticket and claim the prize or the ticket will become void.

Every week, eight employees at the Hacienda Hills Country Club in The Villages, Florida, get together and buy lottery tickets. Each one puts a dollar into the pool, and the money is used to buy the tickets. The friends always agreed that if they won, the money would get split evenly.

A few weeks ago, they hit the jackpot, winning $16 million with one lucky ticket. But that week, only seven people pitched in. Jeanette French, 72, wasn’t at work the day the winning ticket was purchased. Usually, when someone isn’t at work on lotto day, one of the others will pitch in a dollar. But nobody spotted French, and the winners say they don’t want to share with her. French feels that she has a right to one-eighth of the winnings, and she’s decided to do something about it.

French is taking her claim to court, and the judge has ordered the Florida Lottery to hold on to the winnings until a decision is made. The group chose to take a lump sum of $9 million, so if French is not included in the pot, each lotto player will get $1.3 million cash. If they decide to share with her too, everyone gets $1.1 million. Both sides have lawyers and the battle wages on.

“It’d be an awful shame for money to end friendships,” said French’s attorney Tom Culmo. But however the judge decides to end this disagreement, at least one person is going to come out of it unhappy.

Neil Jones and his partner Julie Kirkham were facing a bleak Christmas. Jones works laying tile, but business has been bad, and the couple were forced to borrow money to make it through the holidays.

“We’ve just been scraping along,” he said. “We borrowed some money so we could get through Christmas, knowing that in the New Year there were a couple of jobs possibly in the pipeline.”

Down to his last £13, Jones decided to throw caution to the wind, and he went out and bought three lottery tickets at Bargain Booze in hometown of Fenton. His risky strategy paid off, because now the self-employed 47-year-old is a millionaire.

One of the tickets Jones bought was a winner in last Wednesday’s draw, netting the couple a £2,446,436 jackpot. The winning lotto numbers were 14, 16, 23, 24, 25 and 43.

“At first I thought we had won £10, and then I realized we had all six numbers. I called to Julie to come and check the ticket too as my hands were shaking so much. She thought I was pulling her leg.”

Kirkham is just as excited as Jones. “My head is in bits and I can’t think straight,” said the sandwich shop assistant.

The couple plans to buy a house and take a holiday in Egypt.

The largest lottery jackpot in the history of the Philippines was recently won by a player that has yet to be identified. The jackpot, which has been building without a win for over six months, paid 741 million pesos (16.8 million dollars) on a game called Lucky Pick. The numbers game has over 29 million possible outcomes, and the winner managed to choose the right one.

Even though nobody knows who the winner is, everyone seems to have advice. Crowds of people are hanging around the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) hoping to catch a glimpse of the winner. Local celebrities are urging the winner to build schools, or to donate some of the money to charity. But not everyone is positive – the lotto winner is already receiving threats.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz yesterday urged the winner to flee the country. “It’s best for the person and his family to hide and go abroad rather than stay here and be recognized by people,” he said. The bishop believes that once the winner’s identity is known, the person will be in danger of being kidnapped or threatened for money.

Cruz is the founder of both the People’s Movement against Jueteng (an illegal numbers game played in the Philippines) and the People’s Movement against Gambling. In June 2010 he called for the disbanding of Philippine gambling monopoly PAGCOR. “PAGCOR is a government corporation,” Cruz said. “It makes the government itself a social malediction for promoting corruption, indolence and dependence among the people.”

Back in February, 44 year old Nigel Page won £56 million playing the Euromillions jackpot lotto game. It was the third largest lottery win in British history.

Nigel Page was recently ordered by courts to pay £2m of his winnings to his ex wife, who left him for another man more than ten years ago. Wendy Page, 43, tried to get £8m from the jackpot winner, but settled out of court for a quarter of that amount.

Mr. Page offered to put the £2m into a trust fund for their 13 year old daughter, but the idea was shot down.

The legal president for the case is a rule called the ‘clean break’ clause. It says that says in a divorce situation where one person pays maintenance to the other, the other can ask for a lump sum of money and a clean break rather than taking ongoing payments. It is suspected that if the case went to court, Mr. Page would have been required to pay much less than £2m, but it seems he settled for the number to avoid the hassle of a legal battle.

Meanwhile, Nigel Page has re-married, moved into a £4million house with a private cinema and an indoor swimming pool, and is known to give regularly to local charities.

Tommy Faul of Cankton, Louisiana, recently turned 60. For his birthday, his sister-in-law sent him a card with a World Champions New Orleans Saints lottery scratch ticket stuck inside. The ticket was a winner, and now Faul is $100,000 richer.

Faul’s sister-in-law actually bought two of the $5 lotto tickets. She scratched on off herself, and put the other inside the birthday card.

“It feels unbelievable to win,” said Faul. “My wife kept saying ‘this can’t be true’ so we had our son take it to the convenience store to be sure it was true and it was.”

“I work three jobs because my wife is disabled. We plan to pay off her car and the house, and take care of my wife’s sister, too.”

News reports did not share the sister’s reaction to the news.

The tickets came from Butch’s Food Mart & Deli on Main Street in Arnaudville. The store just opened recently, so employees there were excited about the winning ticket.

Pensioners Violet and Allen Large of Lower Truro, Nova Scotia won just over $11 million playing the Canadian lottery in July. The money is now gone.

It was a “big headache” said the couple, now in their 70s. They were living comfortably before the big win, but after becoming millionaires, they became concerned with being taken advantage of by “crooked people”.

The money has been donated to a list of charities more than two pages long. Beneficiaries included organizations that fight cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes. The couple also gave to their local fire department, to churches and cemeteries in their area, and to the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

“That money that we won was nothing. We have each other,” said Allen. Violet was also positive about their good deeds: “There’s so much good being done with that money. We’re the lucky ones. I have no complaints.”

The couple kept about two percent of the winnings for themselves, and are not looking forward to doing their taxes this year.

“I’d been using my mom’s toll tag for years,” she explained. “But after I moved to Oakland 11 months ago, she got tired of me borrowing it and insisted I get one of my own.”

As luck would have it, Simmons was the company’s one millionth customer to open a FasTrack account since BATA began offering the service in 2000. She had no idea that by signing up, she would hit the jackpot! The Toll Authority rewarded her with $1000 worth of free FasTrak, good for several months of toll-free commenting.

Simmons also won Courtside Club tickets for two Golden State Warriors basketball games, and a $100 gift certificate for Warriors merchandise.

She intends to use the free toll service for commuting to work, and for making cheap weekend trips to San Francisco.

Garina Fearon is a single mother living in Brooklyn, New York. She works as a prison guard, a job that isn’t much fun when inmates get unruly and decide to assault the guards. Despite these hardships, a lucky mistake last month changed Fearon’s life forever.

Fearson is not a gambler. She said she buys lottery tickets maybe twice a year. Last month she went to her local deli to buy a Powerball ticket, but wound up buying a Mega Millions ticket by mistake. She put the ticket in her pocket, went home, and didn’t even pay attention when the winning numbers were announced that evening.

Two days later, Fearson was at work when she looked up the winning numbers in a newspaper. She soon realized that by buying the wrong ticket, she had won 54 million dollars.

For now, Fearson has stepped away from her job as a guard at Rikers Island while she figures out what to do with her new-found fortune. One thing is certain – she will be sending plenty of money back to her mother in Jamaica.

Lottery winners are often faced with a choice – take a big cut in their prize and collect the remainder right away, or get the whole amount in small payments for years and years. Fearson went for the lump sum option, taking home a fat $33 million.