US Woman claiming to be winner of $1 billion Powerball Jackpot is a Fraud

The family of the store owner has revealed that the woman who claimed to have won was not genuine. She was just seeking attention on television. After 38 consecutive winnerless Jackpot nights, it was believed Powerball had finally found its winner.

This happened after a local news channel KTLA shared a video of a woman walking into Las Palmitas Mini Mart claiming to be the winner. The alleged Powerball winner was shown sobbing and struggling to speak through tears about the life-changing sum.

When asked whether she is the Powerball winner, the woman replied ‘yes’ before running down the street while being chased by cameras. She was heard saying “I need to find him” and then climbed into a dark BMW.

However, Sarai Palacios, the granddaughter of the bodega owner later told the Daily Mail that the woman hasn’t won anything and the real winner is yet to come forward.

“She didn’t win – I’m not sure why she did that. I guess she just wanted to be on TV. We don’t know who the winner is yet. They still haven’t come forward.”

The winning numbers for Wednesday’s (July 19) Powerball Jackpot, the third largest prize in the game’s history were 7, 13, 10, 24, 11 and the red Powerball 24. The winner will have a choice between taking the full $ 1 billion paid out in yearly increments for 29 years, or a $ 558.1 million, one-time lump sum before taxes.

The giant win of $1 billion also means that the Palacios family is now in line for $1 million, which Sarai’s grandfather has already decided to spend on vacation and college funds.

The Powerball officials said that the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

There have been no major jackpot winners worth billion since November last year. A Pasadena man named Edwin Castro,31, won an even bigger $2.04 billion. He opted for a lump sum payment of $997.6 million.