Adair Man Claims $1 Million Powerball® Prize
After making several stops for lunch Saturday afternoon, an Adair man decided to purchase a few Powerball plays for Saturday's drawing and ended up winning a $1 million prize.

Steve Petty, 58, has been staying at the Guthrie County Hospital in Guthrie Center with his mother, who is 95 and recently took a bad fall. Petty's siblings had been taking turns staying by her side and Petty tried to stop for some lunch before heading back to the hospital Saturday.

"After all the restaurants I went to were closed, I told my sister-in-law, 'I'll just run up to Casey's to get a pizza.' I waited and waited and said, 'Give me three quick picks,'" Petty said. "I went home, started working on tax clients and said to myself, 'Let's see what happened with the lotto.'"

Petty had purchased three Powerball plays from Casey's, 100 N. Fifth St. in Guthrie Center, and it was the second play that won him the big prize.

"I saw those numbers so quick, it was unbelievable. I usually have to check my numbers 20 times just to make sure I didn't win anything," Petty said with a laugh as he claimed his prize Monday afternoon at the Iowa Lottery's headquarters in Des Moines.

Petty called his sister, who asked her daughters to try to figure out how much he'd won.

"They called me and said, 'Steven, you are a millionaire,'" he said. "And I said, 'Are you sure?'"

Petty's neighbors urged him to sign his ticket and have it validated. Signing a lottery ticket ensures that no other person can claim ownership of it.

"They scolded me for having an unsigned ticket," he said. Petty said he plans to spend his money wisely by planning for retirement and possibly purchasing a newer car. Petty, who is an organist and tax preparer, said he was astounded that his sporadic lottery playing won him such a big prize.

"I invested maybe $22 on lottery tickets in 2011," he said. Petty's ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize in Saturday's drawing. Before $2 Powerball debuted on Jan. 15, Petty would have won a $200,000 prize.

"I wasn't aware of that," he said. "That makes this fortuitous."

West Allis woman claims $1 million Powerball prize
By her own admission Christy Stanczak of West Allis never plays Powerball. But she's been on something of a lucky streak recently—she just won a trip in a radio contest--and so this past weekend, when Powerball was at $336 million, she thought: why not?

Stanczak didn't hit the jackpot, but she did give herself one heck of a Valentine's Day present yesterday when she claimed a $1 million prize from Saturday's Powerball drawing.

After taxes Stanczak received $672,500.

She shared her story with reporters today at a news conference in Brookfield.

Stanczak, 26, bought a $10 quick-pick ticket at Pick N Save, 15170 W. Greenfield Avenue, in Brookfield. One set of her numbers matched all five regular winning numbers in Saturday night's drawing, but not the Powerball.

Boyce Couple Claims $1 Million Powerball Prize
Mary Roberts of Boyce became the Louisiana Lottery's first millionaire of 2012 when she claimed a $1 million Powerball prize from the Feb. 11 drawing at Lottery headquarters on Tuesday, accompanied by her husband, Mike. The win also marks the first $1 million "match-5" prize for the Louisiana Lottery since the Powerball game changed in January.

"I came home from the grocery store and found Mike at the computer shaking," said Roberts, "Then I saw that he was checking the winning numbers on the Lottery's website. We couldn't believe it!"

Regular Powerball and Lotto players, the Roberts have always used their kids' birthdays to choose their numbers, but the couple opted for a Quick Pick ticket for the Feb. 11 drawing, meaning the numbers were randomly generated by the Lottery's system.

The winning ticket matched all five white ball numbers, but missed the red Powerball number, to win $1 million. The Boyce couple received $700,000 after state and federal taxes were withheld. The winning numbers were 01-10-37-52-57 and the Powerball number was 11.

Mike Roberts said his first order of business is to purchase his wife her dream car, a Mustang convertible. The self-proclaimed "ordinary" couple said they plan to use their winnings to move closer to their children in Shreveport.

The couple purchased the winning ticket at Super 1 Foods #601 on MacArthur Drive in Alexandria. The store will receive a bonus of $10,000, which is 1 percent of the prize, for selling the Roberts' their winning ticket.

Raytown Woman Wins Missouri's First $1 Million Match 5 Powerball Prize
Thanks to Powerball's new prize structure, a Raytown woman is now $1 million richer. Roberta Sinclair used Quick Pick to match all five white-ball numbers drawn on Jan. 28, making her Missouri's first $1 million winner since Powerball changed in mid-January. Prior to Jan. 15, Powerball players who matched all five white-ball numbers won $200,000.

At the Lottery's regional office in Independence, Sinclair said she "couldn't believe it" when she checked the winning combination from her home computer the day of the drawing. With a laugh, the retired General Motors employee noted that after she read the numbers online, she thought to herself that she "better go over this again."

"I sat there and took it all in," Sinclair recalled, referring to the moment she realized she had become a millionaire.

The mother-of-three and grandmother-of-six declared that the prize wouldn't cause her to do anything "out of the ordinary," but it would make her plans easier. As for how she'll spend the windfall, she added that, "it's about time for me to trade cars," so now she'll do that sooner. In addition, she had been considering visiting family in Arizona, so she intends to firm up travel arrangements.

Sinclair purchased her Powerball ticket at Apple Market, 11501 E. 63rd St., in Raytown. The store received a $1,000 bonus for selling the winning Powerball ticket from the drawing on Jan. 28.

$1 Million Nebraska Powerball Prize Split by 16 Co-workers
A group of 16 players from the Omaha area will share a $1,000,000 Nebraska Powerball prize.

Each week for almost a decade, Christopher Braun of Omaha and his 15 co-workers at the City of Omaha Roads Department have pooled their money together to purchase Powerball tickets. For the Wednesday, February 8 drawing, the group purchased 16 quick pick tickets at Kwik Shop, 7525 Cass Street in Omaha.

This is the first automatic million dollar winning ticket in Nebraska since Powerball was upgraded on January 15, 2012. Previously, the amount won for matching only the first five numbers was $200,000.

Braun and the members of the group arrived at Nebraska Lottery headquarters the morning of February 14 to claim the prize. The other group members are: Mark Schartow of Omaha; Donald Phillip of Omaha; Michael Banks of Omaha; Eugene Cosey of Omaha; Michael Miller of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Jeffery Plater of Omaha; John Narec, Jr. of Omaha; Bryan Luttig of Omaha; Christian Kubat of Omaha; Cameron Hurd of Omaha; Joseph Hoagland of Omaha; Daniel Hussey of Omaha; Scott Arnold of Omaha; Damita Peak of Omaha; and John Falkner of Omaha.

Each person will receive a $62,500 share of the prize. The group members had no definite plans for their winnings, but some stated they might use their share to travel, pay bills, or buy a new vehicle.

Savannah man wins $1M Powerball prize
A Savannah man won big in Wednesday's Powerball drawing. Lars Ljungdahl, 69, matched the first five numbers and won the game's $1 million second prize.

His win comes less than one month after game enhancements increased the second prize from $200,000 to $1 million.

Ljungdahl checked the draw results on the Georgia Lottery's website Thursday morning.

"I was pretty happy," he said.

Village Station, located at 10 Meeting St. in Savannah, sold the lucky Quik Pik ticket.

A manufacturing management retiree, Ljungdahl said he will "most likely invest."

ARIZONA COUPLE WIN $1 MILLION POWERBALL PRIZE
The winners of the $1 million Powerball second prize in Arizona redeemed their ticket from the January 28 draw in Phoenix today. Willis and Christine Boyd drove to Phoenix from Fort Mohave bringing in their winning ticket they had purchased from the Smith's Food & Drug, located at 4747 HWY 95, in Fort Mohave. Since the launch of the new $2 Powerball on January 15, only two other states besides Arizona have had two second prize winners – the first winner from Arizona was a Tucson resident.

Willis, a retired Colorado State Trooper who is still in disbelief about his win, plans to purchase a new car with his wife, share some with their son and invest the rest of the winnings.

The Smith's Food & Drug store is located directly across the street from the Safeway that sold the winning $95.3 million Powerball ticket in 2010.

Utah Woman Claims Last $200,000 Powerball Prize from Downey Truck Stop
Every Monday morning, Michelle Lochhead from West Valley, Utah, hands a few dollars to a friend who makes regular trips to eastern Idaho for business. The purpose of the dollars is for her friend to pick up a couple of Powerball tickets for her for the week. That strategy paid off when Lochhead won $200,000 on a ticket that matched the first five numbers, but not the Powerball itself, for the January 11, 2012 draw.

"I didn't even know I had that big of a winning ticket for a couple of weeks until I finally checked online to see if I'd won," said an exuberant Lochhead when she claimed her winnings at Lottery headquarters. "It wasn't until I got the ticket to Boise that I even believed it was real!"

Lochhead will have a unique place in Idaho Lottery Powerball history. She's the last winner of her kind. She is the 33rd winner to claim $200,000 on Powerball since 2005. Just four days after her win, the Powerball prize level changed. If she won today, her ticket would be worth $1,000,000, but for now, she's happy with the $200,000.

"I'm glad to have any amount. I'll take it!" added Lochhead who plans to pay off a few bills and visit family across the country with her winnings.

Lochhead's winning ticket was sold by Flags West Trust Stop in Downey, Idaho. For their part in selling the winning ticket, Flags West will earn a bonus from the Idaho Lottery of $20,000.

KENTON COUNTY MAN CLAIMS KENTUCKY'S FIRST $1 MILLION POWERBALL PRIZE AFTER GAME ENHANCEMENTS
It's been just over two weeks since the Powerball game was enhanced with changes such as bigger jackpots, better odds, and more millionaires.

A winning ticket sold at the Remke Market for Saturday's Powerball drawing was claimed by Joseph Bennett, 69, of Covington yesterday at lottery headquarters. This is the first ticket sold in Kentucky to win a guaranteed one million dollar second prize in the new enhanced game.

While at Remke Market buying groceries on Saturday afternoon, Bennett asked the store clerk how much the Powerball jackpot was worth. "When she told me $146 million, I thought I'd better buy a ticket," he said. Bennett purchased a $4 ticket (two lines of numbers), letting the machine pick his numbers.

It wasn't until early Sunday morning when Bennett was checking his ticket on Direct TV that he discovered he'd matched the first five numbers but not the Powerball to win the game's second prize.

After looking over the numbers several times, he went and woke up his wife Ada. "I think we've won," he said, as he handed her the ticket.

"Won what?" Ada asked, "Dinner for two?" Joseph was thinking the ticket was worth $100,000.

Wanting confirmation, the couple called Remke's to let them know they thought they'd won. Melanie, the store clerk on the phone, was able to confirm that the store has sold a winning Powerball ticket and asked them to read off their numbers on the ticket. She said, "Are you sitting down?" That's when she told us we'd won $1 million.

"I felt like my legs were going to go out on me," Ada told lottery officials.

After taxes, Bennett received a check for $690,000. The couple plans to pay off bills and would like to take their 14-year-old twin grandsons that live with them to see Hawaii.

New Mexico Man Wins $10,000 Powerball® Prize
Fritzgerald Sandoval of Algodones, New Mexico won $10,000 in the Jan. 21 Powerball® drawing.

The numbers on Sandoval's quick-pick ticket matched the red Powerball of 7 and the white ball numbers of 12, 43, 44 and 45. After discovering his good fortune, Sandoval happily remembered to protect his ticket.

"I signed it with a smile," he said.

Sandoval said he plans to use some of his prize to celebrate his daughter's upcoming graduation from high school.

The winner purchased his lucky ticket at Bernalillo Chevron located at 223 W. Highway 550 in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

Tucson Resident Claims Arizona's First $2 Powerball Second Prize Jackpot of $1 Million
A Tucson resident who wishes to remain anonymous has come forward to claim the $1 million second prize Jackpot from the new $2 Powerball.

The $1 million winning $2 Powerball ticket was drawn last Saturday, January 21, and was sold at a Fry's Food Store in Tucson, located at 555 E. Grant Rd.

The winner was thrilled to learn that he was Arizona's first million-dollar, second prize winner with the new $2 Powerball. Even though he was excited with the news, the winner said "health is more important than money."

"It was great to learn that someone stepped forward to claim the second prize $2 Powerball jackpot and become Arizona's newest millionaire," said Karen Bach, assistant director of budget, products and communications for the Arizona Lottery. "This big win will dramatically impact the player's life, and I can't think of a better way for him to start 2012."

New Mexico Couple Claims New Powerball® Game's First $1 Million Prize
Larry and Cynthia Martinez of Blanco, New Mexico claimed the nation's first $1 million prize in the new Powerball® game launched Sunday.

The Martinez' ticket for the game's Jan. 18 drawing matched the white ball numbers of 6, 29, 34, 44 and 50 to win a second-place prize of $1 million. Previously, the prize for matching five white balls was $200,000.

Larry Martinez selected his numbers, a combination of the month and year he was born and digits from an old workplace identification badge. They discovered their good fortune yesterday evening while watching the news.

"I was making supper and I said, 'Larry, you need to pay attention. They're calling out numbers,'" Cynthia Martinez recalled.

Larry Martinez, who was dozing, sat up from his recliner and immediately recognized his numbers. He retrieved his ticket from the visor of his truck and then verified the numbers on his ticket with the numbers posted on the lottery's website.

"I kind of freaked out," Larry Martinez said. "I wondered 'How did I win $1 million?'"

"We promised more winners and bigger prizes in the new Powerball game and we delivered on the very first drawing," said New Mexico Lottery CEO Tom Romero. "We're thrilled that the New Mexico Lottery sold the new game's very first $1 million prize."

As newly minted millionaires, the couple plans to make investments and share the prize with their three sons and grandson.

Larry Martinez bought his lucky ticket at the 7-2-11 Store No 42 located at 5697 US Highway 64 in Farmington. Previously, the store has sold 19 large prize-winning lottery tickets ranging between $700 and $5,000. For selling the $1 million-winning ticket, the store is eligible for a lottery bonus of $2,500.