Michigan Man Wins Two Big Powerball Prizes in Same Draw

Lucky Feelings Lead to A Double Prize

Jeffrey Norman purchased tickets from two different retailers ahead of the draw on Wednesday July 18th. The urge to play first came over him when he was at the Speedway gas station on West 6 Mile Road in Retford in the afternoon, and he entered five lines.

Jeffrey felt lucky again a few hours later when he was in Stack’s Liquor and Deli on Ecorse Road in Belleville, and played five more lines. Only one of the lines was the same across both tickets, but it turned out to be the right one as he matched four main numbers plus the Powerball.

Having also added the Power Play option to his ticket, each of Jeffrey’s prizes was doubled from $50,000 to $100,000. He ended up $200,000 richer, and he explained the thinking behind his selection when he came forward to collect his prizes from Michigan’s lottery headquarters the next day.

“I play regularly and have special numbers that are lucky for me,” said the 55-year-old, who plans to invest the money to help him in his retirement. “I'll play my numbers at a store whenever I have a lucky feeling. I had that lucky feeling twice on Wednesday. When I checked my numbers, all I could say was: 'Oh my God!' It was an incredibly gratifying feeling to win.”

What is Power Play?

Power Play is an optional add-on which is available for players in most states. If you decide to select this box on your ticket, it costs an extra $1 per play, but you will increase the value of any non-jackpot prize you win.

A Power Play number - 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 10x - is randomly selected alongside each Powerball draw and winnings are multiplied by the value of that number. The exception is the second prize, which is automatically doubled to $2 million regardless of the Power Play number drawn. The Power Play on July 18th was 2x, so both of Jeffrey’s $50,000 prizes were doubled.

The 10x Power Play can only come into effect when the advertised jackpot is $150 million or less, meaning it could appear in the next draw on Wednesday night. The top prize has been estimated at $147 million following another rollover on Saturday, making it the largest lottery jackpot anywhere in the world.