Photo: Iowa Lottery
(Clive, IA) -- A Tama County Iowa woman has claimed a $2 (M) Million dollar Powerball prize. Megan Balmer of Garwin says she's looking forward to paying off her mortgage, student loans, and planning for retirement. The Powerball jackpot is an estimated $725 million for the Wednesday night's drawing. It's the seventh-largest jackpot in the history of the game. The Mega Millions® jackpot is $500 (M) million for tonight's (Tuesday's) drawing.
“I had a ticket with multiple plays on it and I saw the numbers, and I double-checked on the website a couple times,” Balmer said. “And then I checked on the app and didn’t quite believe what I was seeing. Then we called my stepmom and we went and checked it at another Casey’s gas station and verified that it was a winner.”
Balmer’s ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to initially win a $1 million prize in the game’s Monday drawing. She added the Power Play® option to her ticket, so her prize is $2 million. Balmer’s ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize that night.
Balmer’s winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, in Gladbrook.
Another Iowa ticket also was one number away from Monday’s jackpot, matching four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to initially win a $50,000 prize. That player also added the Power Play and multiplied their prize to $100,000.
That winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s in Marcus in northwest Iowa.
The Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $725 million annuity, $366.2 million lump-sum option, for the game’s next drawing on Wednesday. That’s the seventh-largest jackpot in the history of the game.
The Mega Millions® jackpot for the Tuesday drawing is an estimated $500 million annuity, $251 million lump-sum option.