Suffolk man finds Powerball jackpot “too big not to play,” wins $1 million

 

Matthew Brewer isn’t a regular Powerball player. Instead, the Suffolk man said he gets in the game, “when it gets too big not to play.”

 

That was certainly the case on Saturday, January 9, when the Powerball jackpot reached $949 million. He stopped by Convenience on the Go, 1441 Holland Road in Suffolk, and bought three Powerball tickets. He used Easy Pick, allowing the computer to randomly select the numbers on his tickets.

 

The next morning, like millions of Americans, he decided to check those winning Powerball numbers. That’s when he discovered his ticket matched the first five numbers to win $1 million.

 

In fact, his ticket was just one number away from hitting the record jackpot.

 

“It would have been nice to win the whole thing, but I’m not going to argue with this!” he said.

 

The winning numbers for that drawing were 16-19-32-34-57, and the Powerball number was 13. His ticket was one of 28 nationwide to win the $1 million prize, and the only one in Virginia. Since no one matched all six numbers in Saturday’s drawing, the estimated jackpot for the Wednesday, January 13, drawing is a jaw-dropping $1.4 billion.

 

Mr. Brewer, who is an auto mechanic, said he intends to invest his winnings. Convenience on the Go receives a $10,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling the winning ticket. Amazingly, the store is less than a block away from a store that sold a $1 million winning ticket in the Virginia’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle drawing on January 1.

 

Powerball drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays. They are broadcast on TV stations across Virginia and live on www.valottery.com. The cut-off time to buy a ticket is 10:00 p.m. on the night of the drawing.

 

When it comes to education, the Virginia Lottery is game.  In fact, it’s the reason we play.  We generate more than $1.4 million per day for Virginia’s K-12 public schools.  Operating entirely on revenue from the sale of Lottery products, the Virginia Lottery generated nearly $534 million for Virginia’s public schools in Fiscal Year 2015. We know the Virginia Lottery is a great place to work, but don’t take our word for it. The Richmond Times-Dispatch named the Lottery a 2015 Top Workplace. For more info, visit our website, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and check us out on YouTube. Please play responsibly.