Iowa Man’s Leap of Faith pays off With $1 Million Win

While the jackpot for Saturday’s draw was an impressive $80 million, it was not so large that it would usually have tempted 31-year-old Shane Saxen to buy a ticket. Collecting his prize from the Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive, he said: “I usually wait until the jackpot’s up really high, and then I’ll buy a ticket. In this case, I just decided, ‘Why not? I’ll get one’.”

Saxen, who purchased his Easy Pick entry at the Brew convenience store and coffee shop at 404 11th St. in Correctionville, matched the numbers 24, 44, 46, 50 and 51 in Saturday’s draw. He just missed out on the Powerball of 13.

News of a big win in the town quickly spread after the draw and it was Saxen’s sister who alerted him to the fact that he could be sitting on a seven-figure prize. He said: “My sister heard that there was a $1 million prize and asked if I bought a ticket. And I said, ‘Yes,’ so she goes, ‘Well go get your ticket and I’ll check your numbers.’ And I checked my ticket and I had the winning numbers!

“At first I didn’t believe her, and I said, ‘No way’.  And then she’s like, ‘No, seriously. For real.’ I just kind of paused for a second and my stomach dropped. And it was cool.”

Saxen currently works as a campus security officer at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City and has no immediate plans to retire. Instead, he will invest most of his winnings for when he does give up his job, while also buying a new set of wheels. “I’ll probably trade in my vehicle now for a new vehicle,” he said. “I’ll be doing some thinking about what I want to do.”

While he is thankful that his sister made him check his ticket straight after the draw, he is convinced that he would have got round to it at some point. He said: “I would have probably heard about somebody winning it and then obviously I would have known I bought a ticket. I know I would have eventually checked mine. Everyone’s talking about it.”

The winning retailer, Brew, will also receive a $1,000 bonus for selling the $1 million ticket. The Iowa Lottery has given away more than $4.5 billion in prizes since its launch in 1985, as well as raising more than $2 billion for state programs. The lottery supports veterans, family members of peace officers and firefighters who have died in the line of duty, the state tourism industry and many more projects which benefit from the General Fund. Find out more about playing Powerball in Iowa.

Powerball Jackpot Hits $100 Million

Following another rollover on Wednesday, the Powerball jackpot has now hit $100 million. It is the first time it has reached nine figures since a ticket worth $396 million was sold in Florida for the drawing on January 29th. The most recent winner was a player from Michigan who pocketed $70 million.

If you’re looking to follow in the footsteps of Shane Saxen and become a Powerball millionaire, you may wish to generate random numbers that you can play in the next drawing. It’s a quick and easy method if you’re struggling to think of which numbers to use, while you can also keep generating if you don’t like the first set that is produced.

Go to the Powerball Numbers page straight after every drawing to see the latest results, including a full list of payouts.