Travelers Rest Retired Nurse Wins $2,000,000

RALEIGH, NC - A retired nurse from Travelers Rest went grocery shopping in Hendersonville, NC and came home $2 million richer.

Margo Konopacke of Travelers Rest experienced her good fortune when she stopped at Publix on Greenville Highway in Hendersonville for groceries.

"I had just pulled out of the parking lot when I realized I didn't buy a Powerball ticket," she said. "I wasn't going back in the store but then I thought, 'My birthday is coming up, so what the heck, this will be a birthday present to myself.'"

She went back inside the store and asked for a $3 Power Play Powerball ticket for Saturday's drawing. She found out she won the next day when her husband checked the ticket.

"When he told me I had matched five numbers, I thought he was joking," Konopacke said. "I slammed my hands down on the counter and asked to see the ticket. Sure enough, I had five numbers."

Konopacke claimed the prize last Tuesday afternoon on her birthday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh, NC. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $1,415,001. She plans to do something special for her birthday but said she will use most of the money for her and her husband's retirement.

The ticket matched the numbers of the five white balls to win $1,000,000. Because she added the $1 power play feature, the prize doubled to $2 million when the multiplier was drawn. The ticket beat odds of one in 11.7 million.