Tennessee couple John and Lisa Robinson are some of the first to come forward as supposed Powerball winners. But here’s the weird part – they have yet to get their ticket confirmed by lottery officials.
It’s pretty ballsy to go on live TV and announce your $529 million winnings to the world without actually having everything verified… but apparently the Robinson’s don’t care about jinxing their luck.
The couple went on NBC’s Today Show to show off their winning ticket:
NBC
During the TV interview, the couple discussed their bout of monetary luck, explaining that they actually bought the ticket just two hours before the cutoff.
“I really didn’t feel like stopping,” Mr Robinson said. He wasn’t feeling too well and was tired, but decided to stop at a nearby grocery store anyway. He bought four tickets at Naifeh’s to represent each member of his family, then went home to sleep, leaving his wife to check the numbers after the late-night drawing.
After triple checking to make sure the numbers were in fact a match, she woke up her husband and had him check as well. Initially they were in disbelief – the chances of them winning were not in their favor – and decided to not tell anyone about their supposed winnings.
“I’ll believe it when the news comes on in the morning and they say there’s a winner down in Munford,” Mr Robinson recalled.
After seeing a local news station show up at the grocery store the next day, they immediately contacted their lawyer Joe Townsend, who recommended they come forward with their winnings on national news before turning in their ticket… weird advice coming from a lawyer, but whatever.
“I think the American public wants to hear from them, and even though they want to be private after this is over, they want to let the public know that they’re the winners,” Mr Townsend explained.
According to the Daily Mail, the couple has yet to decide on what they will do with their winnings.
Since they are splitting the $1.586billion jackpot with two others, the Robinsons stand to gain a prize of $529million if they choose the annuity or $327million with a lump sum payment.
As for how they plan to spend their winnings, the Robinsons say they will pay off some loans but haven’t made any other plans.
They say they want to stay in Munford, and that Mrs Robinson hopes to keep on working.
They also plan on giving donations to their church as well as organizations close to their heart like St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The other two winning tickets were sold in Melbourne Beach, Florida, and Chino Hills, California.