Woman speechless to learn she won $2M jackpot in Powerball drawing

Jessica Macarone purchased the winning ticket in Newark, New Jersey.

ByABC News
February 24, 2017, 11:17 AM

— -- A New Jersey woman was rendered speechless when she was told she had won $2 million in Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot -- and her stunned reaction was captured on video.

Jessica Macarone learned of her lottery win in front of reporters at the News Day newsstand in Newark, New Jersey, where she purchased the Powerball ticket. Macarone returned to the newsstand on Thursday to check her numbers.

“Are you kidding me? You’re kidding me,” Macarone, of South Bound Brook, New Jersey, said in front of cameras, before high-fiving and hugging a nearby companion. “This is real?”

Macarone, an attorney who works near the newsstand, discovered she matched five numbers but not the Powerball in Wednesday’s drawing for the $435.3 million jackpot. Macarone’s decision to purchase the $1 Power Play option doubled her winnings from $1 million to $2 million.

New Jersey Lottery officials confirmed in a statement Thursday a winning ticket was purchased at the News Day newsstand. The $2 million winning ticket has not yet been brought into the lottery's headquarters, a New Jersey Lottery spokeswoman told ABC News today.

The winning ticket for Wednesday's Powerball drawing, worth an estimated $435.3 million, was sold in Indiana, the Hoosier Lottery confirmed Thursday morning. Powerball is played in 44 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“When the jackpot gets big, I buy a ticket with the Power Play,” Macarone said, according to ABC's New York station WABC. “I think once before I’ve won a few hundred dollars.”

She noted of the significance of her win. “This was a really rough year. I lost my dad and my uncle and my mom is having a hard time," she said.

Macarone said she had no immediate plans for the money, explaining, “I can’t even speak right now."

“You don’t think you’re going to win anything,” she said.

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