A husband and wife from Wilmington beat the odds to win a $50 million annuity Powerball jackpot. The couple had previously won $11,000 in another Delaware lottery game.
The couple decided to remain anonymous and selected the cash, single-payment value for the jackpot, which totaled $33.05 million before federal withholding taxes. The winning ticket was validated by Delaware Lottery officials early Friday afternoon.
“I checked my numbers in the newspaper during a break at work, and when I realized I had won, I had the shakes,” said the man, who said he is a laborer. “I was like, I’m done. I’m done for the day.”
His wife said she was similarly rattled when she heard about their good fortune. “I said, ‘Oh my God! And I immediately thought, What can we do for our family?”
The ticket was purchased at Cutrona’s Liquors, Wilmington.
“We chose numbers that mean something to us – and when they were selected on Wednesday, we couldn’t believe that they were drawn in the sequence we picked,”the husband said.
The couple said they are casual lottery players and had won previously
“Ironically, we hit the Play 4 in Wilmington (three years ago), and my wife called to say she won $5,500 playing ‘our numbers,’” the man recalled. “I told her I had played the same numbers that morning – so we actually won $11,000!”
Helping family is a priority for the couple who are intent on remaining grounded even while being able to afford some extras in life.
“Absolutely,” agreed his wife. “This just allows us to do things for others that we weren’t able to do before. You never know when you’ll get this type of opportunity.”
This is the eighth Delaware Powerball jackpot winner and the fifth largest Powerball jackpot won in Delaware. The last time a jackpot-winning Powerball ticket was sold in Delaware was in February 2009.
