Do You Have The Winning Ticket?

We’ve got a pretty unusual situation in Iowa right now, with two Powerball tickets that each won a $200,000 prize this month still unclaimed.

The tickets were sold at convenience stores in Council Bluffs and Clinton.

The Clinton ticket won a $200,000 prize in the Powerball drawing on May 6. It was sold at Porter’s Convenient 66, 1512 Lincolnway in Clinton. The winning numbers in the $94.7 million jackpot drawing that night were: 7-8-12-22-31 and Powerball 18. The Power Play number was 5.

The Council Bluffs ticket won a $200,000 prize in Saturday’s $113.7 million Powerball drawing. It was sold at Eddy’s, 3434 Nebraska Ave. in Council Bluffs. The winning numbers in Saturday’s drawing were: 4-15-32-49-58 and Powerball 21. The Power Play number was 3.

Players win the $200,000 prize by matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball. Neither ticket this month included the Power Play option, which would have multiplied the prizes to $1 million. and $600,000 respectively. (I wrote that incorrectly, and Mark, a sharp-eyed blog reader, wrote to ask about it! Under changes made to the game in January, a Powerball ticket that wins a $200,000 prize and also has the Power Play option added to it will always win $1 million. Thanks, Mark!)    

As of this morning, we still hadn’t heard from the big winner – or winners – in either case. So please help us spread the word!

The $200,000 prizes must be claimed at one of our offices in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Mason City, Storm Lake or Council Bluffs. Click here for a list of Iowa Lottery office addresses and maps to their locations.

It’s unusual for there to be two winning tickets like this that are unclaimed because a lot of the time, folks who have won prizes this large come forward right away. It’s possible the winners don’t even realize yet that they’ve got the big winners, so we’re doing all we can to get the word out there.

There’s still plenty of time for the winners to come forward. In Iowa, winners have 365 days from the date of the Powerball drawing in which they won a prize to claim their winnings.

P.S. The Powerball jackpot continues to roll, heading to an estimated $150 million for Saturday’s drawing!   

Comments

[Mark Chandler]

No problem- Just wanted to let you know you have readers. Do enjoy the blog!

[Mary Neubauer]

Mark: Thank you for being a sharp reader! You are right, I wrote that incorrectly. I’ll ask our Web folks to change the entry to remove that reference. Thanks for catching that, and for being a Powerball player! Mary

[Mark Chandler]

Question: Why wouldn't they both be $1 Million if they had the Power Play option? I thought that is what the power play option did when all five numbers without the powerball was drawn.