California Nurse Winning Powerball Turned Out To Be A Prank

The heartwarming story about the California nurse who won Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot is a hoax—this according to her family members.

One of the three winning Powerball tickets for the $1.6 billion prize was sold in California, and earlier today reports claimed that the woman was identified by her employer as the jackpot winner.

The story was actually great.

First off, we had a generous boss who bought 18,000 tickets for all of his employees. Then, one of the employees wins the big jackpot, and even finishes her shift as a nurse after she finds out she won millions.

The story was so good, it almost seemed fabricated for viral internet purposes—and unfortunately, it was.

According to the New York Daily News, a family member of the woman said it was totally a prank and the woman didn't actually win. To make matters worse, the woman wasn't even in on the prank.

The nurse's son sent her a picture of what he claimed was a winning ticket, but she was told later that he was joking

At the time of this post, the California Lottery said the winner had not yet come forward.

The jackpot will be divided and distributed to the three winners in a lump sum of $737.6 million after federal taxes or 30 annual payments.

More than 80 people have become millionaires by matching five of the Powerball numbers and many others—including several in Louisiana—winning $50,000 and $100,000 payouts in the drawing.

The Powerball jackpot has now been reset at $40 million.

[via NYDailyNews]

HERE'S A LIST OF ALL THE POWERBALL WINNERS IN LOUISIANA