Big lottery news has hit in northern Iowa: Someone who bought a Powerball® ticket at an Osage convenience store has won a $2 million prize.
The $2 million-winning ticket came close to winning Wednesday night's $80 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball. But whoever bought the ticket also added the Power Play option to the purchase, which multiplied the initial $1 million prize to $2 million.
The $2 million-winning ticket was purchased at Casey's, 309 Main St. in Osage. It was one of two tickets nationwide that won a $2 million prize in Wednesday's Powerball drawing. Wednesday's winning Powerball numbers were: 17-24-26-45-46 and Powerball 19.
Casey's will receive a $2,000 bonus from the lottery for the $2 million-winning ticket being sold at its Osage store.
And get this: Four tickets purchased in Iowa have now won prizes of at least $1 million so far this year, with two just this month.
On Aug. 18, three Johnston siblings claimed a $1 million prize they had won with a Mega Millions® ticket they purchased earlier this month at a Des Moines supermarket. In February, an Urbandale man won a $1 million Powerball prize with a ticket he had purchased at a local convenience store; and in January, a West Des Moines man won a $1 million prize in the “Lifetime Riches” instant-scratch game with a ticket he purchased at a local convenience store.
The Osage ticket won Iowa's third Powerball prize of $2 million. Men from Decorah and Barnes City each claimed a $2 million Powerball prize in 2013.
When $2 Powerball began in January 2012, we predicted that the newly designed game would produce more millionaires. The game's starting jackpots have doubled to $40 million and the jackpot is now easier to win. But perhaps the most important change for the person who bought the winning ticket in Osage is that the game's second prize for matching the first five numbers increased from $200,000 to the current $1 million cash, which multiplies to $2 million with the Power Play.
No one won the jackpot in last night's Powerball drawing, so the big prize increases to an estimated $90 million annuity ($54.9 million cash option) for Saturday.
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