ECONOMY & WORK
MONEY 101
NEWS
PERSONAL FINANCE
NET WORTH
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use DMCA Opt-out of personalized ads
© Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Market Realist is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
MARKETREALIST.COM / MONEY 101

Virginia woman accidentally wins $1 million Powerball prize after making the 'best mistake' of her life

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.
UPDATED 7 DAYS AGO
Photo Credit: Getty Images - PhotoAlto/Jerome Gorin
Photo Credit: Getty Images - PhotoAlto/Jerome Gorin

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. 

Sarah Day celebrates winning Powerball on behalf of Gary Krigbaum at Powerball First Millionaire of the Year during Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2023 on January 1, 2023 in New York City. Image Source: Getty Images|Photo by Rob Kim
Sarah Day celebrates winning Powerball on behalf of Gary Krigbaum at Powerball First Millionaire of the Year |  Getty Images | Photo by Rob Kim

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 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.

This article originally appeared six months ago.

MORE ON MARKET REALIST
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.
Sep 28, 2024
Depositing a check twice is illegal, but it's an easy mistake to make, especially with the advent of remote deposits through a bank’s mobile app.
Sep 27, 2024
Can I use a family member's Costco card? A Costco membership comes with restrictions, so be sure to know the rules. We'll break the rules down.
Sep 26, 2024
Heritage Auctions called the piece "birth certificate of America's last silver dollar". 
Sep 25, 2024
Ruth L Gottesman got $1 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock upon her husband's passing.
Sep 25, 2024
Before we get into this list, think of anything that you might use only once or twice.
Sep 24, 2024
Shaq says the strategy isn't about making money but it did pay off monetary dividends as well.
Sep 23, 2024
What are some of the most valuable action figures? You can make good money selling vintage Barbies, G.I. Joes, and Star Wars action figures.
Sep 20, 2024
Pokémon cards were all the rage in the '90s and early 2000s. Are they worth anything today? You might be surprised.
Sep 19, 2024
The boxes of popular, rare, and vintage LEGO sets may be valuable. Before you throw them away, find out if the LEGO boxes are worth anything.
Sep 18, 2024
People collect all sorts of things, and if you have old National Geographic Magazines lying around, you may wonder if they're worth anything.
Sep 17, 2024
What are some things you didn't know you could pawn? You can make good money selling or pawning vintage items or other items in good condition.
Sep 17, 2024
Back in 2017, a woman spotted an envelope lying at a Walmart store with an important message.
Sep 14, 2024
If you have a box of Disney VHS tapes in around your house, it's time to pull them out because they could be worth thousands — especially certain movies.
Sep 13, 2024
Psychologist, Andrew T. Jebb, and his team analyzed the data provided by the Gallup World Poll from 164 countries, to arrive at this conclusion. 
Sep 12, 2024
The man who sold the collector's item to pay the bills was left in tears after getting it back.
Sep 11, 2024
The strategy has allowed the company to save millions of gallons of fuel, and time.
Sep 10, 2024
When he checked his PayPal account, there was $92,233,720,368,547,800 in it.
Sep 9, 2024
The retired security guard heard an announcement on television that a particular lottery ticket hadn’t found its prize winner yet.
Sep 6, 2024
In one such hack, social media influencers are explaining to the public how they can exploit Section 179 to get maximum tax savings.
Sep 2, 2024