Third Time’s The Charm?

You know that old saying, “The third time is the charm?” A couple lottery winners’ stories of late have me wondering if the saying is true!

First up is a Perry man who won a $30,000 prize in the Powerball® drawing on Sept. 26. But the story of Austin Ballentine Jr. definitely doesn’t end there: It was his third $30,000 lottery prize.

In September 2002, Ballentine won the top prize of $30,000 in the “Crossword” instant-scratch game. And about a year earlier, in November 2001, he’d also won the top prize in that game!

And here’s another story that involves threes.

Yesterday, a Des Moines man claimed a $1 million Powerball prize he’d won with a ticket he bought at a West Des Moines supermarket for Saturday’s drawing. Richard Smith of Des Moines, who’s 84, bought his $1 million-winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 1700 Valley West Drive in West Des Moines. It was the only ticket nationwide to win a $1 million prize Saturday night.

Smith’s ticket originally matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $200,000 prize. But he also had added the Power Play® option to the winning play, which multiplied his prize to $1 million.      

Here’s where the three comes up in this story: Smith claimed the third $1 million prize in Powerball this year in Iowa!  

In August, two couples who were camping at the Iowa State Fair won a $1 million prize by adding the Power Play option to their Powerball ticket. Rick Hamilton and Sharon Sulser, both from Chariton, and Vickie and Terry Chambers, both from nearby Columbia, split the $1 million prize they won with a ticket they purchased while making an ice run to a Pleasant Hill gas station.  

And in February, a Marshalltown man won a $1 million prize by adding the Power Play option to his Powerball ticket. Ricky Rushton, who worked in the cafeteria at the Swift & Co. pork-processing plant in Marshalltown, bought his $1 million-winning ticket at a Marshalltown convenience store.

Yep, must be something about threes!