NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A U.S. Army sergeant from Newport News is gearing up for retirement, and now he has a little extra cash to get started after winning a whopping $200,000 in the Powerball drawing last week.
The Virginia Lottery said SFC Jerrell Rice bought the winning ticket at Luckies Convenience Store located on Chestnut Avenue in Newport News. His winning numbers were 2-20-22-26-47, and the Powerball number was 21.
“I was excited! I started shaking!” Rice told Virginia Lottery officials. “I ran to my wife and showed her the ticket and said, ‘Tell me this is correct!’"
His winning ticket matched four numbers and the Powerball number. Typically, that would earn the ticket holder $50,000. But, Rice paid an extra dollar for Power Plat which quadrupled his winnings, bringing it to $200,000.
Rice, who has served in the Army for 22 years, said he's going to put his winnings toward paying bills and caring for his family.
While the odds of winning any Powerball is 1 in 25, the Virginia Lottery says there's a 1 in 292.2 million chance of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot.
K-12 education in Virginia receives all of the Virginia Lottery profit. Last year, Newport News' K-12 education received $33.5 million in lottery funds.
