Lucky Powerball player wins huge prize — but thinks it’s a scam. ‘That can’t be right’
A Virginia man didn’t believe his luck when he learned he won big playing Powerball, lottery officials said.
“That can’t be right. It’s got to be a scam,” Robert Peak told Virginia Lottery officials he said after seeing a message saying that he had won $200,000.
But Peak was wrong. He had matched four of the five winning numbers plus the Powerball in the Nov. 30 drawing to win $50,000, and a Power Play addition quadrupled the prize to get his grand total, lottery officials said in a Jan. 8 news release.
The winning numbers were 4, 24, 29, 39 and 63, and the Powerball number was 25, according to the Powerball website.
He purchased his online through the Virginia lottery app, according to the release. When lottery officials asked how he will use the winnings, he responded, “my wife has plans for it!”
According to Powerball records for the Nov. 30 drawing, one person matched five numbers to win $1 million, and nine people — including Peak — won $50,000. No one won the jackpot.
The next drawing is Jan. 11, and the estimated jackpot is $263 million, lottery officials said.
What to know about Powerball
To score the 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 can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times and price 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.
This story was originally published January 9, 2025 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Lucky Powerball player wins huge prize — but thinks it’s a scam. ‘That can’t be right’."
