Winner of $758.7M Powerball jackpot is hospital worker, mother of 2

Lottery officials revealed the winner of the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot.

ByABC News
August 24, 2017, 3:11 PM

— -- The Massachusetts woman who won the second-largest prize in Powerball history is a hospital worker and mother of two, she revealed at a press conference Thursday.

Mavis Wanczyk, 53, said she was at work at the Chicopee Medical Center when she learned of her newfound fortune.

"I called and told them I would not be coming back," she said, laughing.

PHOTO: Mavis Wanczyk, right, of Chicopee, Mass., laughs beside state treasurer Deb Goldberg during a news conference where she claimed the $758.7 million Powerball prize at Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters, Aug. 24, 2017, in Braintree, Mass.
Mavis Wanczyk, right, of Chicopee, Mass., laughs beside state treasurer Deb Goldberg during a news conference where she claimed the $758.7 million Powerball prize at Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters, Aug. 24, 2017, in Braintree, Mass. Officials said it is the largest single-ticket Powerball prize in U.S. history. At left are Wancyk's mother and two sisters.

Wanczyk said she's "scared" and still can't believe it's true. The first thing she wants to do is "just sit back and relax," she said.

"I had a pipe dream, and it came early."

Wanczyk has a 31-year-old daughter and 26-year-old son, she said. She didn't think twice abut coming forward as the winner so soon, she said.

"I always wanted to do this," she said. "I wanted it over and done with so everybody would leave me alone."

PHOTO: Mavis Wanczyk picked the winning ticket for the Powerball, receiving her 'check' during a press conference, Aug. 24, 2017 for over $750 million dollars.
Mavis Wanczyk picked the winning ticket for the Powerball, receiving her 'check' during a press conference, Aug. 24, 2017 for over $750 million dollars.

Before becoming a millionaire many times over, Wanczyk said she would "make due" with what she had.

"I've been okay. I'm not going to say that I've been the richest person in the world. I am not going to say that I am the poorest person in the world."

Wanczyk does not have plans on buying a luxury sports car just yet. She just bought a new vehicle last September and she said she plans "on paying it off."

When asked what she'll do tonight to celebrate, Wanczyk joked, "I am going to hide in my bed. I think that is a good answer."

Wanczyk purchased a single lottery ticket sold in Massachusetts that won the whopping $758.7 million Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, making it the second-largest grand prize in the game's history.

Wednesday's jackpot is the largest in North American history for a single winning ticket. The grand prize is second only to the game's highest-ever $1.6 billion jackpot, which was shared by three people in January 2016.

PHOTO: One customer holds the door for another at the Pride Station & Store on Aug. 24, 2017, in Chicopee, Mass., where the winning ticket for the Powerball was sold.
One customer holds the door for another at the Pride Station & Store on Aug. 24, 2017, in Chicopee, Mass., where the winning ticket for the Powerball was sold.

A single ticket matched all six of the winning numbers in Wednesday night's Powerball drawing. The lucky numbers were 6, 7, 16, 23 and 26, and the final number drawn, called the Powerball, was 4.

The odds of matching all six numbers are only one in 292.2 million.

The Massachusetts State Lottery said the history-making ticket was sold at the Pride Station and Store in Chicopee, located some 90 miles west of Boston. It's the largest jackpot ever won in Massachusetts.

The store in Chicopee will receive $50,000 for selling the jackpot winning ticket and it will be donating the prize money, lottery officials said.

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