Wife wakes husband to tell him about Powerball win in Oregon. ‘You have to see this’
.jpg "A 77-year-old man bought a winning Powerball ticket for the Oct. 9 drawing in Mill City, Oregon. He was one number short of the jackpot.")
A woman woke her husband up with good news — they had scored a big Powerball prize in Oregon.
That prize was $1 million.
Thomas Willard, 77, bought the Powerball ticket at a convenience store in Mill City for the Oct. 9 drawing, the Oregon Lottery said in an Oct. 18 news release.
At the time, the jackpot was $1.57 billion.
The next morning, Willard’s wife checked the ticket while he slept and at first thought they won $100,000, lottery officials said.
But they had matched five out of the six numbers, which meant they won $1 million.
She rushed to wake up her husband.
“Wake up, you have to see this!” she said.
Now the couple has plans to buy a new pickup truck and a scooter for the wife.
“At our age, this is just about right,” Willard told lottery officials.
Three other players also won the $1 million prize during the Oct. 9 drawing and included people in California, Virginia and Indiana. One person in Florida won $2 million in the drawing.
The $1.57 billion jackpot grew to $1.76 billion and was won by a player in California during the Oct. 11 drawing.
Mill City is about 75 miles south of Portland.
What to know about Powerball
To score a jackpot in the Powerball, a player must match all five white balls and the red Powerball.
The odds of scoring the jackpot prize are 1-in-292,201,338.
Tickets cost $2 and can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times vary by state.
Drawings are broadcast Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:59 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This story was originally published October 19, 2023 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Wife wakes husband to tell him about Powerball win in Oregon. ‘You have to see this’."
