Couple who stopped for lunch on long drive home win $1million Powerball fortune
A lucky couple had no idea that a quick stop for lunch on a long drive home would make them millionaires.
They won a massive $1million after buying a lottery ticket on a whim in Virginia. Christine Oberheitmann, who works as a teaching assistant, and her husband had been travelling back to Berlin, Maryland State, and decided to make a pit stop for something to eat while passing through Cape Charles in Virginia.
While inside Sting-Ray restaurant, the Powerball ticket caught Christine’s eye when she saw how big the jackpot had grown. She told local media she couldn’t resist the temptation to buy a ticket when she saw the rolling Powerball jackpot prize had risen to a massive $500million (£410million). She opted to play the lucky dip, allowing the computer to randomly select her numbers.
"I typically only play when the jackpot gets big," she said. But Christine never thought that the single ticket she bought on a whim would have made her a millionaire.
The couple made a chance pit stop at Sting-Ray restaurant while passing through Virginia during a long drive home (Google Maps)On September 9, Christine was stunned when her ticket numbers matched all five white balls: 11, 19, 29, 63, and 68. The only number she didn’t match was the Powerball number, which was 25. She won a whopping $1million (£820,310) prize.
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The Powerball jackpot is still yet to be won. In the absence of a big winner of the Powerball prize on Saturday, it has rolled over for the 31st time, bringing the total to a whopping $1 billion. The next drawing is tonight. If won, the jackpot will be the ninth-largest lottery prize of all time.
Christine and her husband made a return trip to Virginia to collect their life-changing winnings at the Virginia Lottery Headquarters.
"We'll probably stop at the store on the way home to take a selfie,” she said.
According to Virginia Lottery officials, the odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. The overall odds of winning any Powerball prize are 1 in 25.
Christine’s lucky ticket didn’t only benefit her. According to officials all Virginia Lottery profits go towards the state’s primary and secondary schools.
Last year, Northampton County, where Christine bought her lucky ticket, received over $1.8 million (£1.4 million) in Lottery funds for primary and secondary education.
At the state level, the Lottery raised a massive $867 million (£711 million) for Virginia’s schools, making up around 10% of Virginia’s total primary and secondary school budget.
Shockingly, in the US, over $2billion worth of lottery winnings go unclaimed every year.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever came to $2.04billion. It was won by a player in California in November last year.
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