New Jersey

Pandemonium Erupts at NJ Restaurant When Workers Think They Hit Powerball Jackpot

UPDATE: Workers Who Mistakenly Thought They Won Powerball Double Down for $1.5 Billion Drawing

Workers at one New Jersey restaurant cried tears of joy and shouted -- one even quit his job -- after they matched winning Powerball numbers with a lottery ticket they'd purchased for an office pool.

Unfortunately for them, they didn't realize they had read off the wrong day's winning numbers.

Video from Grissini's Restaurant in Englewood Cliffs shows servers, cooks and bartenders celebrating after reading off Wednesday's winning numbers with one of the tickets they bought for Saturday night's $900 million drawing.

Their ticket, which was purchased Saturday and included numbers 2, 11, 47, 62, 63 and a Powerball of 17, was an exact match for Wednesday's $528 million prize. No one won in Wednesday's drawing, which prompted the historic $900 million jackpot that later swelled to $1.5 billion after Saturday's drawing.

The workers can be seen on video reading through the numbers, with another shouting "Yes!" with each successive match. When the person reading off the ticket announces the Powerball, the entire restaurant erupts in cheers.

A second video shows workers hooping and hollering as though they won the epic jackpot. One man goes around hugging his coworkers and wiping away tears.

It's not clear when they figured out they'd read the wrong day's winning numbers.

Charlie Poveromo, one worker who thought he'd become an instant millionaire, said Tuesday that he still couldn't believe that their ticket came so close to winning.

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"I still can't believe it," he said. "What a feeling."

[NATL] Weird News Photos

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