Lottery player reads Facebook post about a Powerball winner in Missouri. It was her

A Facebook post caught the attention of a Missouri woman, who soon found out she had won a big Powerball prize.

With the Powerball jackpot eclipsing $1 billion before the Oct. 2 drawing, the woman made a late purchase of lottery tickets with her husband at a convenience store in Theodosia.

She said she usually waits to check her tickets, but a social media post convinced her to change her method.

“I saw something on Facebook that the grocery store I’d stopped at had sold a $50,000 winning ticket, so I pulled my ticket out and opened up the Missouri Lottery app and checked the numbers,” she told lottery officials in a Nov. 3 news release.

That lucky Powerball winner was the Theodosia woman, who matched four of the five white balls that were drawn, as well as the Powerball number.

The winning numbers in the Oct. 2 drawing were 12, 26, 27, 43 and 47 with a Powerball number of 5.

“I checked the numbers again and again and yelled at my husband, ‘Look at this, look at this! Check this for me!’” she said.

She plans to pay off her house with her winnings, she told lottery officials.

The Oct. 2 Powerball jackpot was $1.07 billion and grew to $1.76 billion before a winner took home the grand prize.

Theodosia is in southern Missouri, about 45 miles east of Branson.

This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 12:20 PM with the headline "Lottery player reads Facebook post about a Powerball winner in Missouri. It was her."