A woman from Western Massachusetts made a surprising discovery when she found a winning Powerball lottery ticket worth $1 million in her junk drawer, just before it was set to expire. This incident coincides with recent lottery news from the Massachusetts Lottery, which revealed that two $1 million winning tickets were sold for the latest Powerball drawing on Wednesday night.
One of the winning tickets was purchased at a Market Basket in Fitchburg, while the other was sold at a Country Farms store in Leominster. Both retailers will receive a $10,000 bonus for their sales. The winning Powerball numbers were 5-9-25-28-69, with a Powerball of 5.
Though no player matched all five numbers along with the Powerball, the jackpot has now increased to an enticing $234 million for the upcoming Saturday drawing. Additionally, million-dollar prizes were also reported in states such as California, Florida, Illinois, and Nebraska, with a Texas player winning $2 million on a “Power Play” ticket.
Massachusetts has seen a total of four jackpot-winning Powerball tickets in its history, including a notable $787.5 million jackpot claimed in 2017 by Mavis Wanczyk from a gas station in Chicopee.
The odds of winning any Powerball prize are approximately 1 in 24.9, while the chances of hitting the jackpot are significantly slimmer at 1 in 292.2 million. Additionally, the Massachusetts State Lottery announced that, last Wednesday, five $20,000 prizes were claimed in the $25 million Mega Money scratch ticket game, which requires a $50 purchase to play. The three grand prizes of the Mega Money game still remain unclaimed.
This joyful discovery underscores the importance of checking lottery tickets regularly, as prizes can often go unclaimed simply because they are forgotten. With future drawings promising substantial jackpots, the excitement continues in the world of Massachusetts Lottery.