Powerball player tries another game on whim — and it pays off with life-changing win
Christina Weidele was aiming for the $600 million Powerball jackpot when she saw a message about a Virginia lottery game.
She decided to play on a whim — and it paid off big.
Weidele won a jackpot worth $863,795 in the state’s The Lamp: Dark Arts online game, the Virginia Lottery announced Jan. 22.
“I didn’t win anything on the Powerball,” the Glen Allen woman told lottery officials.
She was playing the Powerball online when she said she got the pop-up message about the other game. It ended in the life-changing win and also happened to coincide with her birthday.
“I feel very blessed,” she told lottery officials.
The Powerball jackpot surpassed $600 million by the Dec. 23 drawing. The current jackpot is $134 million.
Weidele lives in Henrico County, “which received more than $30.7 million in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year,” according to lottery officials.
Glen Allen is about 15 miles northwest of downtown Richmond.
This story was originally published January 23, 2024 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Powerball player tries another game on whim — and it pays off with life-changing win."