ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ. -- Some people fantasize about quitting their job the second they win the Powerball jackpot. Well, after a mix-up with the numbers, that's what one restaurant employee did in New Jersey.
A whole group restaurant employees thought they had won nearly $1 billion in Saturday’s jackpot, only to find out they were reading the wrong numbers.
Saturday night at the restaurant's bar, the coworkers read Powerball numbers from one of the pooled tickets they purchased as a group.
They would each get away with $22 million after taxes.
In fact, after learning he had hit every number, one of the cooks tossed his apron and quit on the spot.
There was only one problem.
The workers read numbers from the previous Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot, for which no winning numbers were sold. Fast-forward a few days to when they bought their ticket for Saturday night's drawing.
They were on their phones, during the drawing, looking at an out-of-date website that listed an old set of winning numbers.
It was left to bartender Charles Poveromo and host Cladio Campos to break the bad news.
"I'm staring on his phone. I didn't want to believe that, but I just like, 'Okay, that's the truth.' The guys are still jumping around over there. I'm like, 'Oh, my god,'" Campos said.
