The Powerball winner

53-year-old Mavis L. Wanczyk from Chicopee, Massachusetts, United States who purchased the Powerball ticket that won the $758 million jackpot, has explained that she chose the winning numbers based on her family’s birthdays.

The woman claimed her winnings now described as the  largest single-ticket Powerball jackpot in history appear on Thursday.

Wanczyk, who said she is quitting her job at a local hospital.

At a press conference with officials from the Massachusetts State Lottery on Thursday, she  said found out she had won the jackpot as she was leaving work Wednesday night.

On how she arrived at the lucky numbers, she said, “My numbers were kind of basically random, like maybe with our birthdays, one from here, one from there. “There’s a thing between me and my mom and my stepfather and I have a friend, we all go out to dinner on a Friday night and we play Keno, and our number is four. I just happened to choose, and it worked to my advantage.”

According to CBS, the $758 million prize has the annuity option, paid over 29 years.

CBS quoted Lottery officials as saying Wanczyk had chosen to take a lump-sum payment of $480 million, or $336 million after taxes as reported by the Associated Press reported, rather than a larger amount spread out over many annual payments.

“I just want to sit back and relax,” Wanczyk said. “I had a pipe dream, and my pipe dream has finally come true. I wanted to retire and it came early.”

The winning numbers selected late Wednesday night were 6, 7, 16, 23, 26 and Powerball number 4.

The odds of winning Wednesday night’s drawing were 1 in 292.2 million.

Powerball is played in 44 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The jackpot became because nobody had won since June 10.

Credit: CBS news