'A Steve Harvey Moment': Social Media Reacts To Mass Lottery's Powerball Mix-Up
BRAINTREE (CBS) -- How did they mess that up?
That was the question on the minds of many in the Bay State Thursday morning, after the Massachusetts State Lottery incorrectly said the sole winning ticket of the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot was sold at Handy Variety in Watertown. Hours later, officials announced that the actual jackpot winner was sold at Pride Station & Store in Chicopee, and the ticket bought in Watertown was worth only $1 million.
Almost instantly there were Steve Harvey references on social media. The TV host infamously named the wrong winner in the Miss Universe 2015 pageant.
For others, there was just disbelief that the announcement about the "largest jackpot won by a single ticket in North American lottery history" could be bungled.
"How do you make a mistake like that?" one person wrote on the Lottery's Facebook page.
If you're looking for an official explanation, WBZ NewsRadio 1030 got answers from the head of the Lottery Thursday morning.
"I think we had a couple of excited people in a computer room at one in the morning being a little nervous about handling a $700 million winner," Michael Sweeney, the executive Director of the Massachusetts Lottery, said.
So how does something like this happen?
"Human error, plain and simple," Sweeney said. "If anyone's looking for anyone to blame, the buck stops here with me, the executive director."
The winning numbers were 6-7-16-23-26 with the Powerball 4.
