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Trip To The Gas Station Wins Carmichael Couple $638,000 In Powerball Drawing

CARMICHAEL (CBS13) — Albert and Carol Graham are laughing in the face of the $638,000 check made out to them.

"We're gonna get close to $500,000 after taxes," Carol Graham said.

The retired couple in Carmichael now has a whole lot more money. On Tuesday, they were in Santa Cruz and Albert got up, took the car to the gas station and bought $40 of Powerball tickets. He noticed something on Thursday morning.

"All those numbers in a row," he said.

They matched five numbers—everything but the Powerball number. Albert, who is not the type to get too excited, showed the winning ticket to Carol.

"She was shocked; I was just real calm about it," he said.

"You would never have believed it, that he had won anything, ya know, he was so lackadaisical about it," she said.

Carol had her doubts, so she did what any mom and any grandmother would do—she picked up the phone and called her kids.

"I called my son and all I got out of him was 'Shut up!'" she said.

Now they'll take their newfound fortune and spend it on their kids, grandkids, a nice dinner and a trip to Hawaii.

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