Carrie Edwards, from Virginia, US, matched four of the first five Powerball numbers along with a key sixth numeral – but she left bosses floored with her decision on her winnings
Winning the lottery can be a life-altering event, opening doors to luxury holidays, dream homes and financial security for generations.
However, for Carrie Edwards, a grandmother from Virginia, US, her lottery win has taken on a different meaning. She managed to match four of the first five Powerball numbers along with a crucial sixth number.
Normally, this would have resulted in a prize of $50,000 (£37,000). But, when she purchased her ticket at a Virginia store, she paid an extra dollar – tripling her final winnings.
Instead of pocketing her £111,000 windfall, Carrie decided to donate all of it to charities focused on dementia research, food access and support for military families.
Carrie shared how she received a message on her phone that read, “Please collect your lottery winnings…You won the Monday, September 8 draw for $50,000 and you had the 3x multiplier, so you won $150,000 (£111k) .”
Carrie, hailing from Midlothian in Virginia, told journalists: “I knew I needed to give it all away. God is blessing me, so I can bless others.”
She further expressed that she saw her Powerball win as a blessing that could “serve a greater purpose”, hoping that her actions would inspire others to donate their winnings to charity.
“We all are responsible for helping each other in this life,” she stated.
She split her winnings into three equal parts, donating $50,000 each to the Association Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD), Shalom Farms and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.
Carrie, who is a widow, explained: “These three organisations represent healing, service and community.”
Spokespersons from all three charities expressed no surprise at Carrie’s generosity, as she had previously made donations to them.
A lottery official noted that it is only “very rarely” that winners choose to act as Carrie has done.
However, Carrie’s philanthropy is not entirely without precedent. In 2019, a South Carolina woman who won a staggering $1.5bn (£1.1bn) Mega Millions jackpot donated millions to Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Alabama Red Cross for tornado relief.
In 2013, Canadian Bob Erb, who won a $12 million prize (£8.9m), generously gave a $10,000 (£7.4k) tip to a restaurant owner whose daughter was battling cancer.
The chances of winning a Powerball prize are one in 24.9 million, while the odds of hitting the jackpot are a staggering one in 292.2 million.
Meanwhile, mega-winner Edwin Castro fell prey to the infamous “lottery curse.”
A man alleging that Edwin had stolen his lucky ticket attempted to take legal action to claim a share of his winnings, two of his cousins were arrested in connection with a luxury car scam, and the lavish $3.8 million (£2.8m) Malibu mansion he purchased with his winnings was tragically destroyed in the deadly California wildfires.