Afternoon update on July 12: The jackpots in Powerball® and Mega Millions® both continue to climb. Combined, they now top $1.3 billion.
The Powerball jackpot has been raised to an estimated $750 million annuity, $378.8 million lump-sum option. That’s the sixth-largest jackpot in the history of the game. Not to be left out, the Mega Millions jackpot for that game’s next drawing on Friday is an estimated $560 million annuity, $281.1 million lump-sum option.
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Iowa’s newest $2 million Powerball winner is looking forward to paying off her mortgage and student loans and planning for retirement. But her mind is also on her sons’ entries in the local fair.
Megan Balmer of Garwin claimed her prize today at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive, knowing she had some time while her parents helped her boys get their livestock to the Tama County Fair. Megan says she’s hoping that her boys have wins of their own this week as they show a heifer and a chicken at the fair.
Megan, 36, is a nurse who works for a home healthcare company. She says that she and her boyfriend, Mike Ellis, bought what ended up being a $2 million-winning ticket last night, just before the sales cut-off time for that night’s Powerball drawing.
After the drawing, she compared the winning numbers on the lottery website with those on her easy-pick ticket, then scanned the ticket on the lottery’s mobile app, but still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. So she called her stepmom, and along with Mike, they went to a nearby convenience store to check the ticket again. When the lottery terminal printed a player receipt showing a $2 million prize, the good news began to sink in.
Mike said he was jumping up and down, teary-eyed. Megan says her stepmom was hugging them and they all were in tears. She describes it as luck that just doesn’t happen – ever – for them.
But it did!
Iowa’s Big Wins in Last Night’s Powerball Drawing
Megan’s ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to initially win a $1 million prize in last night’s drawing. But because she added the Power Play® option to her ticket, her prize at the Match 5 level was multiplied to $2 million. Her ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize last night.
The winning Powerball numbers were: 2-24-34-53-58 and Powerball 13. The Power Play number was 2.
Megan’s winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 201 Eighth St. in Gladbrook.
Another Iowa ticket also was one number away from last night’s jackpot, matching four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to initially win a $50,000 prize. And like Megan, the player who bought that ticket added the Power Play option, which multiplied the prize to $100,000.
The $100,000-winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 406 Iowa Highway 3 in Marcus in northwest Iowa.
Casey’s will receive a total bonus of $2,100 from the Iowa Lottery for selling the two big winning tickets in Monday’s Powerball drawing.
Both Giant Jackpots Continue to Climb
The Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $725 million annuity, $366.2 million lump-sum option, for the game’s next drawing tomorrow night. That’s the seventh-largest jackpot in the history of the game.
The Mega Millions® jackpot also has climbed into the stratosphere. The jackpot for that game’s drawing tonight is an estimated $500 million annuity, $251 million lump-sum option.
This is the third time that the games’ jackpots have grown to at least $500 million at the same time.
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