LANSING, Mich. – An Allegan County man was amazed when he found out his Powerball ticket was worth $1 million.
Mark Brooks, of Otsego, matched the five white balls in the September 24 drawing to win the big prize: 03-09-21-24-29. He bought his winning ticket at Otsego Party Store, located at 629 South Farmer Street in Otsego. Otsego is about 20 miles northwest of Kalamazoo.
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“I stop and purchase two Powerball tickets every Friday,” said Brooks. “The week after the drawing, I stopped at the store on my way home from work to check my tickets. I scanned my Powerball ticket and got a message to file a claim, so I asked the clerk to check it. The clerk got the same message, so I took the ticket back and decided to check the numbers when I got home.
“When I pulled up the winning numbers online and started looking my ticket over, my first thought was: ‘These numbers are looking really familiar!’ When I realized I’d won $1 million, I was amazed. All I could think was: ‘This can’t be right!’”
Brooks, 60, recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim his prize. With his winnings, he plans to pay bills and then save the remainder for retirement.
The Powerball jackpot was last won on August 3. One ticket bought in Pennsylvania won the $206.9 million jackpot. The current jackpot stands at $508 million.
Powerball plays may be purchased for $2 each at Lottery retailers across the state and online at MichiganLottery.com. A “Power Play” option that multiplies non-jackpot prizes by up to 10 times to a maximum of $2 million may be added to any Powerball play for only $1. For an additional $1 per play, Double Play may be added to a Powerball ticket, giving players a second chance to win up to $10 million in the nightly Double Play drawing.
The Powerball drawing takes place at 10:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday and may be watched live online at: http://www.powerball.com. Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
Related: Michigan Lottery: Macomb County woman wins $277K Fantasy 5 jackpot