Beckley Man Wins $1 Million Playing Powerball®
June 4, 2012
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – West Virginia Lottery Director John C. Musgrave introduced West Virginia’s latest millionaire at a press conference today in Charleston.
John Robinson of Beckley claimed a $1 million dollar prize for matching five numbers for the May 16, 2012 Powerball® drawing. He purchased the winning ticket at the D-N-J Food Store on Dry Hill Road in Beckley.
“This is quickly becoming the year of the millionaire in West Virginia,” Musgrave said. “John is the fifth West Virginian to win a prize of $1 million or more this year through the West Virginia Lottery and we could not be happier.”
John and his wife Margaret did not find out they had the lucky ticket until this past Saturday when John checked his ticket at a local retailer. He works for the American Red Cross and his job involves a great deal of travel, thus he has been out of town for much of the last few weeks since the drawing.
“I went out to get a (inspection) sticker on my truck and checked the tickets on Saturday,” John said. “I travel a lot with my job and I work out of town a good bit. My step daughter kept calling to tell us that someone had won a million dollars on a ticket bought at that store and to have me check my tickets, but we just thought that someone else had won. We couldn’t believe it.”
John plays Powerball® regularly and often buys tickets for multiple draws. He likes to play two plays per draw and usually uses family birthdates on one ticket and allows the computer to pick the other. His ticket with the birthdates matched the five numbers and missed only the Powerball® in this particular drawing. The numbers drawn in the May 16th drawing were 03-07-21-28-43 with a Powerball® of 02.
The couple plans to pay off their house and all their debts and prepare for retirement with their winnings.
“John has been saying for a while if we could just win $100,000 we could pay off our home and buy a new car and be better off and now this has happened. We can’t believe it,” Margaret said.
