Meet the $759 million Powerball winner

May 2024 · 3 minute read

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I quit!

A Massachusetts native revealed herself Thursday as the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot winner — and said the first thing she did was call it a career.

“I have called them and told them I will not be coming back,” Mavis Wanczyk, 53, who has worked in patient care at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., for the past 32 years, said at a press conference Thursday.

Wanczyk, a mother of two children, a 31-year-old daughter and a 26-year-old son, said that “the first thing I want to do is sit back and relax.”

“I just want to be me. Be alone and figure out what I want to do,” Wanczyk told reporters.

Wanczyk, who opted for a lump-sum payment, will take home $336 million after taxes.

She called winning the lottery “a pipe dream” she’s always had and was stunned when she found out Wednesday night that her ticket had won.

She found out while she was leaving work Wednesday night with a colleague named Rob who read off the winning numbers.

“I said, ‘I have that, I have that,’” she said. “He goes, ‘Let me see that ticket’ and he goes, ‘You just won!’”

“I said, ‘You’re joking, come on, please,’ and he said, ‘Sign that ticket now,’” Wanczyk recalled.

She added, “Last night I didn’t feel like I won. Today as I’m driving here I’m like, ‘This can’t be true. This can’t be.’ And now it’s like ‘Ahhh, I’m a winner’ … I’m scared, but I’ll be okay.”

Wanczyk, a regular lotto player, had purchased the winning ticket Wednesday afternoon from the Pride Station & Store in Chicopee, Mass., where she lives.

“I just buy it because of luck. This is a chance I had to take,” she said.

The winning numbers were 6, 7, 16, 23 and 26, and the Powerball was 4.

Wanczyk said she chose the numbers at random using some birthdays and “special” numbers to her. She also chose two Quick Picks.

To celebrate her newfound riches, Wanczyk said, “I’m going to go hide in my bed.”

She also plans on “paying off” the car she purchased in September.

The Chicopee gas station store where Wanczyk bought the winning ticket will get $50,000.

Bob Bolduc, 73, owner of the chain of Pride stores, said he will be donating all of the money to charity.

“We are very happy for the winner and we’ll be donating the $50,000 to several local charities that we support,” Bolduc said.

Bolduc wouldn’t name the charities, but said they will be “focused on local foster kids, children in need, education for kids, all local programs.”

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