Powerball Jackpot: Tennessee couple picks up $528.8M check – A couple, who on Friday revealed that they are in possession of one of the three winning Powerball jackpot tickets, was presented their share of the nearly $1.6 billion prize at Tennessee lottery headquarters.
Officials said Tennessee-based John and Lisa Robinson chose to take the lump sum and will pocket a little more than $327 million before taxes though they posed with a giant $528.8 million check. The couple are set to receive a couple of million dollars immediately and they will get the remaining amount after 10 days.
When the couple appeared with their daughter Tiffany and their dog, Abby, at a Friday afternoon press conference at Lottery Tennessee headquarters, they sought privacy from the public, admitting they are “common folk from a small town.”
The Robinsons said the ticket was bought by John Robinson at the last minute while he was returning home from work about three hours before the drawing. The couple are the first to
inform the world openly that they have won the jackpot.
According to John Robinson, he called his wife while driving home and he was reminded by her to stop and buy some tickets at Naifeh’s Food Market, one of three lottery retailers in their hometown of 6,000 residents about 30 miles northeast of Memphis.
“I really didn’t feel like stopping that night, but I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll stop,’ he said. “I came home, and I wasn’t feeling good, and I handed the tickets to her and said, ‘I’m going to go lay down.’ ”
When the lucky numbers were announced at 9:59 p.m. CT, Lisa Robinson wrote down the numbers then checked them against the four in her hand and thought she had a winner.
“I looked again. They are the same. I looked again and then I ran down the hall and said, ‘John, you gotta check these numbers,’ ” she said.