Redwood Falls residents and co-workers Deb Hildebrandt, Mary Olson and Teri Woodford have been pooling their money to purchase Gopher 5 tickets for five years. Each group member buys one ticket for the drawings and all winnings are shared equally.

At about 1 p.m. on June 23, Woodford asked a clerk at Tersteeg’s, where the trio work, to check the tickets. She told Woodford that they “won something” because the prize on one of the tickets couldn’t be paid at the store. Woodford said she immediately called the Lottery’s winning numbers line and found that all five numbers on one of the tickets matched those drawn on June 19.

Woodford shared the news with Hildebrandt, who said, “I started jumping up and down. I went to tell Mary.” Olson said her reaction was, “You’re kidding me — are you serious?” She said, “We did a little dance in the hallway and called [the winning numbers line] three more times.”

The exuberant threesome couldn’t wait to claim their prize; they immediately drove to Lottery headquarters in Roseville on June 23. Each winner received $229,860 before tax withholding.

The winning quick-pick ticket was purchased at Tersteeg’s, 1111 E. Bridge St. in Redwood Falls. The store will receive a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

The winning Gopher 5 numbers for June 19, 2009 were 2-5-29-34-46.

Gopher 5 is Minnesota’s own cash lotto for which players pick five numbers from 1 to 47 for a chance to win a jackpot of at least $100,000. The odds of matching all five numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 1,533,939. The odds are 1 in 7,304 for matching four of five numbers to win $500; 1 in 178 for matching three of five numbers to win $15; and 1 in 13 for matching two of five numbers to win $1. The approximate overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 12.

Gopher 5 drawings are held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after the Daily 3® and Northstar Cash® drawings. Tickets must be purchased by 6:10 p.m. on the day of the drawing.