Our new Winner of the Week series tells the stories behind everyday lottery wins – big and small! Follow us on Instagram (@Jackpocket) or Twitter (@Jackpocket) for more weekly behind-the-win stories.
Marie's Powerball Win Started with a Hunch...
Are you on the lookout for signs of good luck? That’s what led Marie in New Jersey to order a Powerball ticket, winning her $50,000!
“What made me buy a ticket that day—I was reading a book and for whatever reason, this book kept saying the word millionaire. It just kept saying it between here and there, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I've got to [get] a lottery ticket.”
That night, something woke Marie up around 1:00 am—maybe it was her wintuition?
Of course I couldn't sleep the rest of the night.
“Sometimes I'll check my phone when I come back to bed, and it said, ‘You are a winner’.... So half asleep, I read it and I'm like, ‘Yeah right, you won $50,000’. . . And then I was like, ‘All right, let me check this.’ And it was true…that was a big shock, and of course I couldn't sleep the rest of the night.”
Marie didn’t want to wake anyone up in the middle of the night, but slowly started telling friends and family in the morning. Many had the same response, “I never knew anybody that won!”
“I'm a list kind of a person. So I was like, "All right, what do I want to do with this?"
Marie said she spent the winnings on some practical stuff, like adding to her savings, taxes and a chimney repair, but she also surprised her sisters with a sweet trip to Florida.
“We usually do a sisters week kind of a thing or weekend. So I just paid for that trip, and then I bought dinner for everybody when we were down there."
Some hunches have a high payoff!
Good luck this week and remember to keep an eye out for signs from the lotteryverse. 👀
