This Oxon Hill retiree won a $100,000 Powerball prize playing her late son’s birthday. |
Doubles her winnings with the Power Play option
At age 80, an Oxon Hill retiree was finding that playing her Lottery numbers sometimes took determination and a lot of effort. Her tenacity – and decision to add the Power Play option to her Powerball ticket for the Feb. 8 drawing – paid off! She won $50,000 and doubled her prize to $100,000!
“As I was watching the actual Powerball drawing on the television in my home, I thought the numbers that had popped up on the screen looked like most of the numbers I had chosen,” she said. “I immediately noticed them because they are part of my late son’s birth date. I guess that’s part of the reason why this feels so shocking and yet like a very special blessing as well. It feels like this is my son’s way telling me that he’s still looking out for me and my family.”
Her lucky Powerball ticket from Thirsty’s Wine & Spirits in Oxon Hill carried the matching numbers of 20, 42, 49, 66 and Power Ball 5. She was one number shy of hitting the $255 million jackpot. She did add the Power Play feature, which yielded a multiplier of 2. No one hit the jackpot so it rolled to $285 million for the Saturday, Feb. 11 drawing. The cash option is $172.5 million.
This avid Lottery player said that there are sets of numbers she’s played for nearly 20 years.
“Most of the numbers I choose to play for any particular Lottery game tend to have very special meaning to me so I usually play the same ones,” said the mother of five. “Just a few years ago, I won $2,500 playing Pick 4. The numbers I played and won off of were 1-2-1-4. They were part of my sister’s address.”
The Prince George’s County resident said the first thing she will do with her prize is pay off her mortgage. Whatever winnings remain after that will finance an inexpensive getaway this winter to somewhere warm.
“I think my late son wants me to be happy with winning this money so that’s exactly what I am going to try to do,” she said.
Want to visit her lucky Lottery retailer? Stop by Thirsty’s Wine & Spirits located at 6191 Oxon Hill Road in Prince George’s County.