When Virginia resident Richard Morrison and his wife checked the winning Powerball numbers following the Sept. 4 drawing, they were shocked to discover that their $2 ticket was worth $1 million.
Virginia Man Hides Winning Powerball Ticket Under Bag of Ice
Their ticket successfully matched all five winning numbers, though they missed out on the jackpot by guessing the Powerball number wrong. Even so, Morrison says that the couple couldn’t contain their excitement.
“We just looked at each other and started jumping up and down!” he told the Virginia Lottery.
However, Morrison’s stroke of good fortune also left with a conundrum. What should he do with the winning ticket, a scrap of paper suddenly worth $1 million?
He decided to hide his Powerball ticket in the freezer, buried underneath a bag of ice, until he could redeem it for his cash prize.
Talk about cold cash! When this Front Royal Powerball player discovered that his ticket was worth $1 million, he tucked the ticket under a bag of ice in his freezer for safekeeping. ☃️
(His wife bought the ticket at Shenandoah Farms Grocery using Easy Pick.) pic.twitter.com/ESUXDxYTYF
— Virginia Lottery (@VirginiaLottery) September 11, 2019
Luckily, the plan worked. Unfortunately, other lottery winners haven’t always been so lucky. Lost tickets, along with players who inexplicably forget to check the winning numbers, lead to tens of millions of dollars worth of unclaimed cash every year. According to NBC Washington, $6.5 million worth of lottery winnings went unclaimed in Virginia alone during the most recent fiscal year.
Wednesday Powerball Jackpot Swells to $50 Million
Powerball drawings are held every Wednesday and Saturday night at 10:59 pm ET. Players have hit five jackpots this year, most recently on Sept. 4 – the same drawing that prompted Morrison to hide his winning ticket in the freezer.
Tonight’s Powerball lottery has an estimated jackpot of $50 million. Check the winning numbers at the official Powerball website.
Last modified (UTC): September 12, 2019 5:51 AM