Woman calls sister ‘right away’ after winning huge Powerball lottery prize in Michigan

Tonisha Jenkins doesn’t usually play the Powerball lottery game, but she said she was tempted to buy some tickets earlier this fall after seeing the jackpot continue to swell.

The day after the Nov. 5 drawing — which had a jackpot estimated to be worth $1.6 billion — she checked the Michigan Lottery website and saw someone bought a $1 million winning ticket at K&G Deli in Detroit, according to a Nov. 30 news release.

That was the same place Jenkins, 46, had bought her ticket.

“I got excited since that was where I purchased my ticket, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” she told lottery officials. But moments later, she knew she had a real reason to be excited.

“When I checked my ticket and realized I was the winner, I couldn’t believe it,” she said in the release.

She matched the five white balls with numbers 28-45-53-56-69, according to the release.

“I called my sister right away to tell her the good news,” Jenkins said.

The Detroit woman recently went to claim her $1 million prize. After taxes, Jenkins took home about $717,500.

“Even though it’s been a few weeks since I won, I am still just as excited as when I found out,” she told lottery officials.

With her winnings, she plans to renovate her home.

This story was originally published November 30, 2022 at 10:24 AM with the headline "Woman calls sister ‘right away’ after winning huge Powerball lottery prize in Michigan."