Powerball: 26-year-old Iowan wins $853,000 lottery prize

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Alicia Rhomberg, a youth services worker from Hiawatha, Iowa, claimed a second-tier prize of $853,000 Thursday from Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot drawing.

Rhomberg, 26, who purchased her ticket at a Cedar Rapids convenience store, matched the first five numbers in the drawing, but missed the Powerball. She won a $200,000 prize, and claimed an additional $653,000 under a "Match 5" bonus, Iowa Lottery officials said.

Rhomberg, who is married and has a child, said she won't quit her job and plans to continue her college studies to become an elementary school teacher.

This was the first time Rhomberg said she had ever purchased an Iowa lottery ticket, but she had a premonition she was going to win.

"I am satisified with this amount," she told reporters at a Des Moines news conference.

Rhomberg learned early Thursday morning she had won the cash as she worked an overnight shift. She said she called her husband at 5 a.m., and he responded by saying, "What time is it?"

"I told him to go back to sleep," she said.

Wednesday night was the first time the "Match 5" bonus took effect in Powerball, although the feature had been added to the game in 2002. Under the bonus system, when the Powerball jackpot reaches record heights, a new prize pool is created to give more people a chance to win a big check.

Forty-seven Powerball tickets nationally shared the bonus pool money, Iowa Lottery Vice President Mary Neubauer said.

Separately, a Powerball ticket sold at the Big 10 Mart in Hiawatha produced a $50,000 prize already claimed this morning by Gary Duenow of Cedar Rapids.

He matched four of the white numbers, plus the Powerball and had added a "Power Play" option for $1 which multiplied his prize, Neubauer said.