When Tierra Barley plays Powerball, she uses numbers that she once found in a fortune cookie. Those numbers won the Henrico woman $50,000 when five of them came up in the May 8 drawing.
It happened with a ticket she bought at Varina Superstore Supermarket on Darbytown Road in Henrico.
However, she nearly lost the ticket before the drawing even happened. She told Lottery officials that after buying the ticket, she left it in the store while she went to take her daughter to the park. She returned to find someone else in the process of buying Powerball tickets. Turns out, that person was helpful in returning Ms. Barley’s ticket.
The winning numbers in the May 8 drawing were 7-41-43-44-51, and the Powerball number was 5. Her ticket matched four of the first five numbers plus the Powerball number.
Powerball drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. The overall odds of winning any Powerball prize are 1 in 25.
All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia. Ms. Barley lives in Henrico County, which received more than $30.7 million in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year. In Fiscal Year 2023, the Lottery raised more than $867 million for K-12 education, making up approximately 10 percent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.
For a complete list of Lottery funds distributed to Virginia school districts, visit the Virginia Lottery’s Giving Back page. For general information or to play games online, visit the Virginia Lottery’s website or download the Lottery’s app. Connect with the Lottery on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube.
With all gaming, please play responsibly.