Kentucky Man Plays Lottery Numbers Based Off Movie, Claims $2M Powerball Prize

Posted on: January 2, 2021, 10:48h. 

Last updated on: January 3, 2021, 11:46h.

Steve Bittenbender Read More
Expertise: Legislation, Sports Betting, Horse Racing.

A Kentucky man has decided to retire for good after cashing in a $2 million Powerball ticket this week.

Kentucky Powerball winner
Someone who lives in or near Princeton, Ky., is $2 million richer after winning the second prize in a Dec. 26 Powerball drawing. (Image: City of Princeton)

According to the Kentucky Lottery, the man – who opted to remain anonymous – matched the first five numbers from the Dec. 26 drawing. That prize is worth $1 million. But because he chose to pay an extra dollar for a Power Play, it enabled him to double his prize.

The winning numbers were: 10-24-27-35-53. Had he matched the Powerball, 18, he would have won the $341 million jackpot.

Last Sunday, he said he received a text reminding him to check his ticket.

I thought I was having a heart attack,” the lucky winner told Lottery officials.

After taxes, he got a check for $1.4 million.

Max Fuel Xpress, the Princeton, Ky., convenience store which sold the ticket, won a $20,000 bonus as well.

Lottery Winner Plans More Time with Family

The lucky winner resides in Caldwell County, Ky., in the far western part of the state, roughly 140 miles from Louisville.

Once retired, he told lottery officials he rejoined the workforce three years ago. However, the Powerball windfall will enable him to re-retire and spend more time with his family.

He told lottery officials he played the same numbers for every drawing, based on a movie he once watched where a character wins a jackpot with the same numbers.

The man, though, couldn’t remember the name of the movie, a Kentucky Lottery spokesperson told Casino.org. A Google search also could not identify the movie.

A winning lottery ticket, though, has been a plot item to several movies and television shows. If you think the numbers from Lost, Paycheck, or It Can Happen to You will make you the next millionaire, then check out this post from Hope Lies at 24 Frames Per Second at Medium.com.

Powerball Jackpot Now at $410 Million

Powerball is one of two national multi-state lottery games. The other is Mega Millions.

Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. To win the jackpot, a player needs to match five numbers from a lot ranging from 1 to 69, and then also match the Powerball, which can be anywhere from 1 to 26.

The odds of winning the big jackpot are greater than 1 in 292.2 million. The Kentucky man’s odds of hitting the first five numbers were 1 in 11.7 million.

The lottery draws twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The winning numbers for Saturday, Jan. 2 were 3-4-11-41-67, with the Powerball 5.

No one won Saturday’s jackpot, according to the Powerball site, so the big prize now stands at $410 million, or a cash value of $316.4 million, for Wednesday’s drawing. No one has claimed the Powerball since a winning ticket was sold in New York in September.

It’s the biggest prize since a Wisconsin man won more than $768 million playing Powerball in March 2019.

Mega Millions, which is available in 47 states, DC, and the Virgin Islands, also hasn’t been claimed since September. The current prize of $432 million ($329.7 million) is the 10th-largest in the history of the game.

The next Mega Millions drawing will take place Tuesday.