Powerball player’s ‘heart just dropped’ when she checked numbers. She won big

When a Powerball player in Virginia checked the results of a recent drawing, she realized “those numbers look familiar.”

Sadie Butler matched four numbers and the red Powerball to win a third-tier prize of $150,000 in the March 26 drawing, the Virginia Lottery announced April 4.

When the Hampton Roads woman bought her ticket for the drawing, she spent an extra $1 for Power Play, which ended up tripling what would have been a $50,000 prize, lottery officials said.

“My heart just dropped,” she told lottery officials when she realized she had won.

She said she used some of her favorite numbers to play and she plans to use her windfall to pay her bills.

Butler was only one of three people to win $150,000 in that drawing, which was the second-highest prize won that night, Powerball results show.

Butler is from Isle of Wight County, about a 50-mile drive west from Virginia Beach.

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 April 4, 2025 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Powerball player’s ‘heart just dropped’ when she checked numbers. She won big."