Virginia woman's mistake leads to $2 million Powerball jackpot
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Betty Wong, of McLean, Va., said she accidentally bought 50 quick-pick tickets for a single Powerball drawing and ended up winning $2 million. Photo courtesy of the Virginia Lottery
Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A Virginia woman who made a mistake while buying her lottery tickets online accidentally ended up with 50 tickets for a single Powerball drawing -- and won $2 million.
Betty Wong of McLean told Virginia Lottery officials she plays Mega Millions and Powerball regularly, and she usually buys a single ticket for multiple drawings at one time.
Wong said she made a mistake while buying her ticket online for the Jan. 13 Powerball and accidentally bought 50 quick-pick tickets for a single drawing, instead of one ticket for multiple drawings.
One of the tickets matched the first five numbers drawn: 4-19-23-25-49, missing only the Powerball number, 14. Wong spent an extra dollar to get the Power Play option for the ticket, which boosted her prize from $1 million to $2 million.
She said she was shocked when she saw she had won.
"I thought I misread the numbers, so I woke up my husband," she recalled.
Wong said she and her husband ended up staying up the rest of the night because they were too excited to sleep.
Wong said the winnings will allow her to take care of her family.
