Tenn. Powerball Winners Keeping Their Jobs

They don't plan to buy new home after collecting $328M lump sum
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 16, 2016 9:54 AM CST
Tenn. Powerball Winners Keeping Their Jobs
Rebecca Hargrove, president and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery, presents a ceremonial check to John Robinson, right; his wife, Lisa, second from left; and their daughter, Tiffany, left.   (Mark Humphrey)

The small-town Tennessee couple that bought one of three magic tickets splitting the world-record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot says they don't plan to quit their jobs or buy a new house. Their daughter, however, wants a horse. At a news conference Friday, John and Lisa Robertson said they won't stop working and won't make any wild purchases. They'll pay off their mortgage and their daughter's student loans, but have no desire to move from their gray, one-story house in a close-knit community into a luxurious compound somewhere. Lisa works at a dermatologist's office. John is a warehouse supervisor. Both plan to return to work Monday, they said. They bought the ticket at a grocery store in their west Tennessee hometown of Munford, population 6,000.

Friends and neighbors say the Robinsons are a hard-working, responsible family with the ability to humbly deal with their new fortune. "That's what we've done all our lives, is work," John Robinson said. "You just can't sit down and lay down and not do nothing anymore. Because how long are you going to last? We do want to enjoy a little bit of our earnings, and maybe invest a little bit of it so our son and daughter will have it and they'll never need anything again." The couple, who opted to take the prize in a lump sum of nearly $328 million instead of in annual installments, also plan help certain friends, give to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, and donate to their church. (Lottery officials are still waiting to hear from winners in Florida and California, where a nurse's win turned out to be a prank.)

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