Woman wins $1 million lottery after making the 'best mistake' of her life

The emergence of the Powerball lottery in Virginia marks a significant milestone in the state's gaming landscape. The lottery game has become a staple in the fabric of American culture and now Virginians can join in too. The game is a big deal for many people in the United States as it stirs hope and excitement about winning huge amounts of money that could change lives. Many people stack up their life savings just to participate with the hope of winning the Powerball jackpot which has a probability of 1 in 292.2 million. The game is open to everyone, making all participants dream about becoming millionaires overnight. 

The unexpected Powerball lottery win

One such incident recently happened with a woman named Miriam Long living in Christiansburg, Virginia who made a lucky mistake of purchasing the lottery ticket. She went to a CVS store in Blacksburg to purchase a Mega Millions ticket for the upcoming big jackpot of $893 million on March 18, 2024. By mistake, she pressed the Powerball ticket button and acted pretty normal as winning chances were pretty low. To her surprise, her ticket matched the first five winning numbers i.e. 10-17-20-39-44, and the Powerball number was 16 (the only number that did not match), which made her win a whopping yet startling amount of $1 million. “It’s the best mistake of my life!” Long said.

The astonishing part is Long used the option of Easy Pick where the user can instruct the computer to pick numbers arbitrarily. After she realized she had won that whopping amount, Long said, "My heart was pounding! It’s overwhelming!" The Virginia Lottery then announced that whichever store sold the $1 million ticket would get a staggering bonus of $10,000. In the exciting world of unexpected Powerball wins, luck and timing play a huge role in making the common people believe that they too can become a millionaire overnight.

A lucky person in New Jersey ultimately hit the Mega Millions jackpot for $1.13 billion in the March 26 drawing, per Associated Press.

Powerball jackpot supersedes limits

Powerball and Mega Millions are the exciting adventures Americans live for. Recently, the Powerball jackpot rose to a whopping amount of $1.09 billion, per Associated Press. One winner from California in November 2022, won the largest Powerball jackpot with a $2.04 billion prize. Sometimes, even in life, amazing things happen by chance and luck. The same is the case with lotteries where people sometimes win big without expecting it. These wins can start with something simple, like deciding on a whim to buy a lottery ticket. Then, suddenly, luck strikes, and the winners' lives change in a big way. Absurd stories are a part of these lottery games. A woman once claimed she had won the jackpot just a day after Powerball revealed that a store in California had sold a ticket worth $1.08 billion. It was later discovered that the woman's claims were false and she had probably declared herself the winner to gain attention.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on April 4, 2024. It has since been updated.