$48.5m Winning Powerball Ticket Ripped Up!

A pair of co-workers and friends in Montana have been purchasing lottery tickets together for a few years. After purchasing 1 or 2 $96.9m Powerball jackpot winning lottery tickets she checked the website for the winning numbers and ripped the ticket into four thinking she didn't win. But she checked the winning website before it was updated, the next day when she heard that the tickets were purchased at the same pub, she went back and found her winning Powerball ticket in four. The pair got to claim their lottery jackpot, turning into a story with a great ending. Here it is reported by The Lottery Post.

After ripping up lottery ticket, Montana pair claim $48.5M share of Powerball jackpot

Six lucky numbers turned into a life-changing, eight-figure payout for a pair of Helenans who Thursday discovered their share of a Powerball lotto jackpot will be some $48.5 million.

Kim Claassen, 55, and 23-year-old Joe Lamport Jr. have worked together at North West Home Health Care for several years, and over that time have intermittently purchased lottery tickets together with the understanding that they would split any winnings. Wednesday night, Claassen stopped at the Town Pump on North Montana Avenue, just up the street from the Montana Lottery headquarters, and bought $10 worth of tickets, including what turned out to be the winning combination, for that night's $96.9 million Powerball drawing.

The two are splitting the jackpot with the holder of another winning ticket sold in Ohio. It's the biggest single lotto payout in Montana history, eclipsing a $47 million Lotto America winner sold in Havre in 1991.

Claassen, who also works part time in distribution services for the Independent Record, said she slept just and hour-and-a-half between jobs Thursday morning, and was still in a state of shock Thursday afternoon.

"Mostly I've just got to let it sink in and let it feel real," she said. "It's going to have a huge impact on a lot of people's lives."

At a news event at the convenience store where the winning ticket was sold, Lamport said he wasn't sure what he'd do with his share of the winnings.

"I just want to go fishing," he laughed. "I'm not going to Disney World!"

Claassen very nearly let the winning ticket get away. She said she checked the lottery website Wednesday night, and believing her numbers were not winners, tore the ticket into four pieces and threw it away, and sent Lamport a text message saying, "We're not millionaires yet." Read the full story...