Thanks to a friend's text, Iowa woman discovers missing $ 343.9 million Powerball note

CLIVE, Iowa – One of the two winners of the $ 700 million Powerball jackpot, a 51-year-old woman from Iowa, said at a press conference on Monday that she had lost the winning ticket, but that a friend's message helped to make him a multimillionaire.

The Iowa Lottery conference held the conference at its Clive headquarters, where Lerynne West explained what had led her to buy the ticket and how she had discovered that she was a winner.

West stated that she had just bought her first house and that she was moving on October 26 when her sister took her to Casey's General Store in Redfield to pick up a slice pizza and coffee. She bought a ticket for the drawing and accidentally left it in her sister's truck.

On October 28, the day after the draw, a friend sent a message to West asking if she had won the lottery, since a citizen of Iowa had shared the jackpot with a winner in New York.

West could not find his ticket but remembered that it could be in his sister's truck. After asking him to check the ticket, his sister sent a photo of the ticket to West – who checked the numbers online.

At first, it did not seem that West had won anything, but she realized that she had incorrectly inscribed the date of the drawing on the Iowa lottery website. After entering the exact date, she learned that she had paired all the numbers, including the Powerball.

West, who retired from Welmark Blue Cross / Blue Shield after the win, said she was considering buying a new car for herself and taking a vacation. She is excited to help her family and friends and has created the Callum Foundation, named in honor of a grandson born at 24 weeks of age and n & # 39; having lived that one day.

West said that she was focused on doing as much as possible with the money.

The ticket was one of two, nationally, to get all matching numbers in the October 27th Powerball draw.

Each ticket won an annual $ 343.9 million or a lump sum of $ 198.1 million. West chose the lump sum.

This is the biggest lottery prize ever won by an Iowan.

Watch the press conference below: