Powerball Winner Cashes $1M Ticket Purchased in Arlington

ARLINGTON, VA — Powerball's latest millionaire has stepped forward with his winning ticket, worth $1 million, according to Virginia Lottery officials.

Larry Elpiner, of Bethesda, Md., purchased the lucky ticket in Arlington because of a nasty storm rolling in before the July 27 drawing.

“I like to grab an Easy Pick ticket every now and then,” he said in a statement. “The jackpot was big that night, and I was working in Virginia as a storm was about to roll in. I figured if I didn’t buy my ticket right then, I probably wouldn’t want to get out of the car in a storm once I was closer to home.”

Lots of players were anxiously watching the drawing that night in hopes of winning the jackpot — worth $422 million. Not Elpiner.

“Though I was up late working that night, I didn’t watch the drawing,” he said. “I checked on the website later and it looked like they kind of matched, but I thought it was a joke."

The winning numbers for the July 27 drawing were 10-47-50-65-68, and the Powerball number was 24. Elpiner’s ticket matched five numbers — one of four nationwide to win the $1 million prize that night. No ticket matched the jackpot for that drawing.

An IT contractor, Elpiner said he wanted to invest some of his winnings for retirement, and pay off his daughter's college debts. “We’ll share with family and friends, but we will also save and make it grow,” he said in the statement.