Missouri woman wins $50,000 Powerball prize while buying mom's birthday cake

Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A Missouri woman who decided to buy a Powerball ticket while picking up her mother's birthday cake won a $50,000 prize on the matriarch's special day.

The woman told Missouri Lottery officials she was at a Schnucks Market in St. Louis on Dec. 13 to pick up her mother's birthday cake when she decided to buy a ticket for that evening's Powerball drawing.

The player said she didn't realize she had won until she saw a Facebook post from the Missouri Lottery saying a ticket worth $50,000 had been sold at the store.

"I was thinking, 'Oh, I bought my ticket at Schnucks,'" the winner said. "Sure enough, I went and checked my ticket. Wow!"

The player discovered she had matched four of the five white ball numbers from the drawing, as well as the Powerball. She said she scanned the ticket with her phone and asked her son to double-check to make sure she was reading it right.

Wednesday's Powerball jackpot is estimated at $378 million.