Meet the First Confirmed Winners of the Powerball Jackpot!

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  • Source: www.youtube.com / Via: www.youtube.com

  • The first winners of the Powerball lottery have come forward – though for a while there, people were wondering if it was fake.

    Today the Tennessee lottery confirmed that John and Lisa Robinson and their daughter Tiffany from Munford, Tennessee have one of the three winning tickets of the $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot. They’ll have to split it three ways with the lucky, as-yet-unknown winners from Florida and California, leaving them with a measly $500 million.

    But earlier, they were in the awkward position of appearing on the “Today” show trying to celebrate, while news anchors wondered if they were telling the truth.

    CNN reports:

    NBC was somewhat skeptical of the Robinson’s claim because they had yet to report their win to the Tennessee lottery commission.

    In a bizarre scene, host Savannah Guthrie led into the segment saying that the “Today” show could not verify that they had won the Powerball, since the family had not yet contacted state lottery officials.

    The caption on screen even put “winning ticket” in quotes.

    Their lawyer explained they jumped the gun because “I think the American public wants to hear from them” and they wanted to ensure they could control their own story in the media.

    Our host Paula Rhodes has more on the Powerball madness of the past week, including a crowd of people yelling and cheering outside of the California convenience store that sold one of the winning tickets:

  • Source: www.youtube.com / Via: www.youtube.com

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