Numerous individuals break open the fortune cookie included with their Chinese food takeout and enjoy the crunchy, sweet wafer, but for one fortunate woman in Virginia, the accompanying lucky numbers printed on the slip of paper inside turned out to be just that — lucky. 

The Virginia Lottery states that local resident Tierra Barley selected six numbers for a Powerball ticket derived from the digits she got from a fortune cookie. Those lucky numbers resulted in her winning a $50K prize after she matched four of the five white balls along with the red Powerball in the May 8 drawing. 

The numbers drawn that evening were 7, 41, 43, 44, 51, and the Powerball was 5. Barley’s fortune cookie note assisted her in beating the slim chances of one in 913,129 in matching four white balls alongside the Powerball. 

Barley’s payout, on the other hand, was nearly a deficit. She informed state lottery officials that after buying the Powerball ticket at the Varina Superstore Supermarket on Darbytown Rd. in Henrico, she accidentally left the ticket slip at the store prior to taking her daughter to the park. 

After discovering she had forgotten the ticket in the shop, she hurried back to see another lottery player buying tickets. In addition to her good luck, that individual possessed her ticket and happily handed the receipt back to Barley. 

Henrico is located approximately 10 miles to the northwest of Richmond, the capital of Virginia. 

Origins of Fortune Cookies 

Fortune cookies are a common part of Chinese cuisine in the United States, but you typically won’t see them served with the bill when eating in China. 

While the origins of the fortune cookie are still debated, many attribute its creation to a bakery in San Francisco in the 1890s or early 1900s. The Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles is believed to be the initial significant producer of fortune cookies. 

Before World War II, cookies were mainly offered alongside Japanese cuisine in the US. That shifted during the war, as numerous Japanese Americans were interned, moved, and/or detained, enabling Chinese Americans to adopt the widely loved fortune cookie. It’s estimated that over three billion fortune cookies are produced each year in factories globally. As per a 2023 article in The Wall Street Journal, the fortunes are crafted by a few fortune cookie factory proprietors, their relatives, and small groups of copywriters. 

Nevertheless, the way the paper slips are composed is evolving with the advancement of ChatGPT. Major fortune cookie producers in the US, based in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, have announced that they are using artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate the fortune-writing procedure. 

An additional $50K Award Exceptional 

In addition to announcing Barley's significant victory, representatives from the Virginia Lottery state that another unclaimed Powerball ticket is valued at $50K. And the time to claim the prize is running out. 

Lottery reps say a ticket purchased at the Wawa at 2390 Plank Rd. in Fredericksburg for the Nov. 27, 2023, drawing must be redeemed before 5 p.m. today, May 28. If it isn’t, the ticket that’s worth $50K “will become worthless.”

In Virginia, winning tickets expire 180 days after the drawing.