LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An anonymous woman from Jonesboro has come forward and claimed her $2 million Powerball prize as part of the July 17 drawing.
The woman claimed her winnings on Tuesday at the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Claim Center in Little Rock, where she elected to keep her identity anonymous.
She purchased the winning ticket at Jordan's Kwik Stop in Bono, buying a Quick Pick ticket from the shop.
Her winning numbers on that night were 5, 8, 9, 17, and 41, with a Powerball number of 21 and a multiplier of 4.
She matched the five white balls but didn't match the Powerball number. Despite that, she was able to increase her initial $1 million prize to $2 million after including the Power Play option.
The anonymous winner told lottery officials that she got the "sudden urge" while at home to purchase a ticket and play the lottery on the night of the Powerball drawing.
“I play the lottery a few times a year and saw advertising that the jackpot was really big, so I told my husband that I needed to purchase a ticket,” she said.
She said that she realized that she won big after checking her numbers of the lottery's website, initially thinking that she had only won $100,000.
“My husband was already in bed, but I woke him up to look over the ticket with me,” she said. “We were still unsure of the prize amount, so we called my sister and brother-in-law to doublecheck the ticket.”
As for her plan for the money? She and her husband plan to pay off their house, buy new family vehicles, buy a home on Spring River in Hardy, and start planning for an early retirement.