Boise woman claims $1 milion Powerball prize
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) ― A Boise woman who took a chance on winning the $597.5 million Powerball jackpot last week is thrilled with her $1 million runner-up prize. Susan Worthington appeared at a press conference announcing her win Tuesday at the Albertsons store in West Boise where she bought her ticket, which matched all the white balls, but not the Powerball. Worthington, a 63-year-old recent retiree, says her first big purchase was an $80 keyless entry remote for her car. She says she plans to spend some of the money to finish up the kitchen and do some landscaping at the house she just purchased after moving to Boise from Yakima, Wash., in January. Worthington says the winnings will allow her to retire comfortably. She says her 83-year-old mother urged her to buy the tickets. Click below for the Idaho Lottery's full announcement.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Boise Woman Claims $1,000,000 Powerball Ticket from Historic Jackpot
BOISE, Idaho – It does only take one ticket to be a big Powerball winner. For Susan Worthington of Boise, buying that one ticket almost never happened last week during the historic jackpot run on Powerball.
“It was a fluke. I wouldn’t have bought it if Mom hadn’t told me to,” explained Worthington of how she found herself at the Albertsons on Ustick and Five Mile in Boise on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 about an hour before the draw. “I pulled into the store and bought five tickets. Then I took them over to my mother’s house and we took turns picking tickets. She picked one, I picked one and vice versa. I picked the winning ticket.
At first she didn’t know how much her ticket was worth. Her mother, Jean Worthington-Byers, checked the numbers during the televised Powerball draw and texted them to her.
“I looked at the numbers and thought to myself, ‘how did Mom get my numbers?’ That looks a lot like they were on the ticket,” added Worthington.
She took her ticket back to Albertsons late on Wednesday night to check her numbers. When she arrived, she asked the night clerk, Julie Jackson, if the posted numbers were the winning numbers from the night’s draw. In the quiet late night hours at Albertsons, Jackson confirmed that Worthington’s lucky pick matched the first five numbers, but not the Powerball and won her $1,000,000. The two celebrated.
Worthington plans to invest most of her winnings. With no extravagant purchases on the horizon, her spending has been limited to replacing the “key fob” for keyless entry to her car and taking her mother to lunch.
For their part in selling the winning ticket, Albertsons received a bonus from the Idaho Lottery of $20,000.
“It only takes one ticket to win. We bought five, but it does only take one to win,” said Worthington. “It’s going to make for a good Christmas.”
# # #