Wife gives husband Powerball ticket for birthday — then came ‘surprise of a lifetime’
A wife gave her husband a Powerball ticket for his birthday that ended up being a “surprise of a lifetime” in Idaho.
Now the lucky couple is $100,000 richer.
Scott Pancheri of Middleton wasn’t shocked when his wife gave him a Powerball ticket for his birthday, the Idaho Lottery said in an Oct. 20 news release.
“I’m not much of a gambler. My wife, though, she plays all the time. She loves scratch games, buys a couple of raffle tickets each year,” Pancheri told lottery officials.
His wife checked his ticket a few days later, and she was “stunned,” lottery officials said.
“It said we needed to take the ticket to the Lottery office to claim it. So, we tried to figure out how much we’d won,” Pancheri said.
He thought he won $50,000. But once they got to the lottery office, he realized he had a $100,000 winning ticket.
His ticket matched four out of the five white balls and the red Powerball. He scored $100,00 because his wife added a Power Play that multiplied his win by two.
The lucky winner has plans to put his prize money aside for his children, then put the rest in savings.
Middleton is about 30 miles northwest of Boise.
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.
Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
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