A Forest City woman said she spent about a month after winning a $2 million Powerball® prize gathering details and making a plan before she stepped forward to claim the prize.
Tamara Sheehan said that she and her husband, Stephen, spent the time “just being very quiet, getting a lot of questions answered, specifically more on the financials and the taxes.”
Tamara said things started to feel a lot more real as they drove up to Iowa Lottery headquarters to claim the prize.
Her $2 million prize was among the millions won in Iowa during the Powerball jackpot run that culminated in the game’s Nov. 7 world-record $2.04 billion drawing.
Tamara, who works in human resources, said that it was fun hearing the buzz around Forest City as she kept quiet and made plans to claim the prize. She said it was a BIG buzz in a small town.
Tamara’s $2 million-winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 1132 U.S. Highway 69 S. in Forest City. Her easy-pick ticket came within one number of winning the game’s $403.9 million jackpot in the Oct. 10 drawing.
She initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. But with the Power Play® option added to the purchase, the prize at the Match 5 level was multiplied to $2 million. Tamara’s ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize in the Oct. 10 drawing.
The winning numbers that night were: 3-6-11-17-22 and Powerball 11. The Power Play number was 2.
Casey’s received a $2,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $2 million-winning ticket.
Tamara says that she and her husband have plans for the winnings, including paying it forward by helping charities focused on issues near and dear to them. She said they plan to invest and will take a couple trips.
Tamara’s prize is the sixth of at least $1 million claimed in Iowa in 2022. And another $1 million prize remains unclaimed more than two months after it was won in Ames.
The $1 million unclaimed prize in Ames was won in the Sept. 6 drawing of the Mega Millions® game. It matched the first five numbers but missed the Mega Ball that night to win $1 million. It was purchased at the Gateway Expresse, 2400 University Blvd. in Ames.
Hi, Jeff. From what you have described, it sounds like you purchased a total of 13 tickets. Each ticket contained multiple plays, is that right? The promotion was keyed upon TICKETS, not plays. It produced a free play with each Lotto America ticket purchased statewide, regardless of the value of the ticket. The promotion ended on Friday, so it is no longer in effect.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | November 28, 2022 at 08:29 AM
I purchased $305 of lotto America today and only got 1 free ticket I bought 2 10 plays for 10 draws $100 each and $105 10 10 play and 1 5 play surely there should've been more than 1 free ticket
Posted by: Jeff Yates | November 22, 2022 at 08:33 PM