A Floyd County man has stepped forward to claim a Powerball prize worth $2 million. Darrell Burnette of Willis picked five numbers in the August 18th Powerball drawing — and paid another dollar for the “Power Play” that doubled the prize of the $3.00 ticket to $2 million. Burnette says he basically had to fib to others about whether he was holding it until today, when he claimed the prize. Burnette is a small business owner who says he has no immediate plans for his winnings.
(Continue reading for the full Virginia Lottery news release.)
Floyd County Man Wins $2 Million in Powerball
He uses “Power Play” to double his prize
For a week or so, people came up to Darrell Burnette and asked him if he had that $2 million Powerball ticket. “I didn’t get it,” he would reply.
Actually, he did have it. On August 31, nearly two weeks after the drawing, he claimed his prize.
“It’s been crazy. I didn’t want to tell anybody,” he said.
The Willis man matched the first five numbers in the August 18 Powerball drawing, missing only the Powerball number. Normally that would win $1 million. However he spent an extra dollar for Power Play when he bought it. Power Play doubled the prize to $2 million.
He bought the winning ticket at Willis Village Mart, 5602 Floyd Highway South in Willis (Floyd County). The store received a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket. The winning numbers were 14-26-41-55-59 and the Powerball number was 1.
This is the first time a Virginia Lottery player has used Power Play to increase the prize to $2 million. The increased prize is one of the enhancements made to Powerball in January 2012.
Mr. Burnette, a small business-owner, said he has no immediate plans for the winnings.
This is the biggest Powerball win in Virginia with a single ticket since Powerball sales in the Commonwealth began in January 2010. In April 2012, Virginia Fike of Berryville won $2 million with a pair of tickets that each won $1 million in the same drawing.
Powerball drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays. Powerball drawings are broadcast on TV stations across Virginia and live on www.valottery.com and on the Lottery’s Facebook page. For more information on Powerball, visit www.powerball.com.
The Virginia Lottery generates more than $1.3 million per day for Virginia’s K-12 public schools. Operating entirely on revenue from the sale of Lottery products, rather than tax dollars, the Virginia Lottery generated more than $487.1 million for Virginia’s public schools in Fiscal Year 2012. For more information, visit www.valottery.com. Follow the Virginia Lottery on http://www.facebook.com/valottery Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Please play responsibly.
