For 20 minutes, NJ restaurant workers thought they won Powerball
NEW JERSEY (FOX5NY) - The staff at Grissini's restaurant in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, thought they were millionaires. Saturday night, bartender Charles Poveromo got a text listing what he thought were the winning numbers. The numbers one after another were matching their ticket.
Manager Michael Devincenzi says 42 employees -- cooks, waiters, valet -- were all in on the pool. Diego Moreno has been parking cars here for 20 years. During those 20 minutes when he thought he won he quit.
These are winning numbers. The only problem they aren't Saturday's winning numbers. They were looking at the jackpot from Wednesday night.
Charles says reality hit after his wife told him to double check just to be sure. He went to the website and saw different numbers. It was over.
Everyone, including Diego, is back at work. They'll play for $1.5 billion this Wednesday.