Forty-two employees at Grissini's Restaurant in Engelwood Cliffs, New Jersey, were almost billionaires after mistakenly thinking they won the Powerball last Saturday.
The mistake happened after the workers pooled their money together to purchase $210 worth of tickets and compared their numbers to the numbers listed on the Powerball website. The numbers would have been winners, if they played Wednesday.
“It was like getting punched in the stomach,” Grissini's bartender Charles Poveromo told The New York Post.
To add insult to injury, security footage of the short lived celebration was captured on video and posted on Youtube and, unable to contain their excitement, the restaurant posted their "winning" numbers on its Facebook page.
Poveromo says his friend had texted him the Powerball numbers on Saturday but failed to notice that the website hadn't been updated and the numbers being shown were from Wednesday.
“For 20 minutes it was real,” Poveromo said. “It’s a shame we didn’t win, but I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything.”
The restaurant workers have not given up hope, Poveromo says they plan to play for the $1.5 billion jackpot on Wednesday.
See the celebration of their almost win here:
Video Courtesy of YouTube
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