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CENTRAL IOWA MAN WINS $400,000 POWERBALL® PRIZE
May 9, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa - A central Iowa man returned to the store where he bought a $400,000-winning Powerball ticket and had a little fun surprising the staff there.
John Ward of Stuart said that as he walked into the local convenience store, the clerk and another customer were talking about the fact that someone had won a $400,000 prize from a Powerball ticket purchased there.
“I had checked the numbers before,” Ward said. “And I said, ‘Here, can you check this ticket for me?’ And she stuck it in the machine and she goes, ‘Oh! It's you!’”
Ward won his big prize in Wednesday's Powerball drawing. The winning numbers that night were: 9-25-26-28-42 and Powerball 26. The Power Play number was 2. Because Ward purchased the Power Play® option on his ticket, the normal $200,000 prize he would have won for matching the first five numbers was multiplied by two for a total prize of $400,000.
Ward, 58, who works as a metal fabricator, claimed his prize Friday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines. His wife, Jodi Bassett, accompanied him on the happy trip. Bassett, a chiropractor, said she knew when her husband came to her office Thursday to share the news that he wasn't joking around.
“I knew that it was legit because he's waited too long for this,” she said. “He wouldn't make this up and interrupt my busy schedule and create that kind of ruckus for a joke.”
Ward said that word of his big win began to spread in their small Guthrie County community before he left the convenience store after having the ticket checked.
“Everybody went nuts!” he said with a laugh. He bought his winning ticket - and later had it checked - at Kum & Go, 1303 Front St. in Stuart.
Ward and Bassett live on an acreage near Stuart and said they may use Ward's lottery winnings to build a new house on their land.
“With this kind of money, you take your time and think things through and decide what the best use of the money is,” Bassett said.
Ward said that his lottery winnings will make retirement “a lot easier, when it comes.”
In the meantime, he has one purchase firmly in mind: He plans to buy a new air compressor. He's dreaming a little, too.
“I haven't found my ‘57 T-Bird yet!” he said.
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