With $2 million on the line, you would figure the winner would want to claim their winnings right away, but not this lucky winner from Texas!
Waiting until the last minute
The lucky winner, a resident of Austin, claimed their Powerball prize worth $2 million for the drawing held on April 10. That means the winning ticket was about to expire in less than two weeks if no one came forward to claim it!
According to Texas Lottery rules, a winning ticket for a draw game expires 180 days after the draw date. With that in mind, this prize-winning ticket from the April 10 Powerball drawing would have expired on October 7 if no one had come forward.
The winner finally comes forward
However, the lucky winner, who chose to remain anonymous, claimed the prize this week at the Texas Lottery headquarters — just 12 days before its expiration date.
Ryan Mindell, executive director of the Texas Lottery said:
“We're very happy this Austin Powerball player realized they had the winning ticket and claimed their prize in time. It's always a good idea to check and recheck your Texas Lottery tickets to ensure you don't miss out on a prize you may have won.”
For this second-tier prize-winning ticket, the lucky winner chose the Quick Pick option, so the computer generated the winning numbers for them. The winning white ball numbers for that April 10 draw were 6, 7, 12, 24, and 36, and the Powerball number was 15 with a Power Play of 2X.
The ticket matched all five of the white ball numbers to win $1 million but also had the Power Play option, so it doubled their winnings to $2 million. The winning ticket was purchased at C Mart, located at 7007 Village Center Drive in Austin.
Texas Lottery receives two Lottery Awards
While the players were winning big, the Texas Lottery was also winning big at the 2024 North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries' (NASPL) annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri, recently.
Up first, the Texas Lottery won a Hickey Award in the Retail Promotion category for their launch event of the Lady Luck 777 scratch ticket game. The launch event was held at an H-E-B location in Austin and featured country music icon Martina McBride and the Lady Luck second-chance promotion. That promotion gave players a chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to attend a private Martina McBride concert at Dolly Parton's Celebrity Theater at Dollywood in Tennessee.
The second award was in the Instant Games section of the Radio Advertising category for its “Nose Hair Trimmer” holiday ad. The ad suggested giving Texas Lottery scratch tickets to avoid awkward holiday gift-giving, accompanied by a catchy jingle, “Fa-la-la-la-la, la lots of cash!”
In addition to the two awards they won, the Texas Lottery was named a finalist in eight other categories, ranging from TV and radio advertising to digital, social media, and corporate communications.
Enjoy playing the Texas Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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