ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An Albuquerque, New Mexico, man won 15 prizes totaling $60,000 in one Mega Millions drawing.
Steven Traub claimed his prizes in person at New Mexico Lottery headquarters yesterday.
"This has made my day," Traub said.
Winner Played Ages as Lucky Numbers ... Again and Again
For the July 8 drawing, Traub purchased five plays on three tickets for a total of 15 plays.
On every play, Traub used the ages of his four youngest children and his wife — 14, 19, 25, 27 and 49 — as his white ball numbers. To complete the plays, Traub selected one from each of the game's 15 yellow Mega Balls.
The winning numbers on July 8 were 14, 25, 27, 48, and 49, with Mega Ball number 9.
On 14 plays, Traub matched four white ball numbers to win 14 prizes of $500 each, totaling $7,000. On one play, he matched four white ball numbers and the yellow Mega Ball to win $5,000. Traub's winnings came to $12,000, but his good fortune didn't end there.
Megaplied
Traub added the game's Megaplier feature to each play. The $1-per-play feature multiplies non-jackpot prizes between two and five times, depending on the multiplier drawn. On July 8, the number 5 was drawn as the multiplier.
Traub's winnings went from $12,000 to $60,000.
'Disbelief'
The winner discovered his good fortune Tuesday night when he checked his tickets for prizes.
"I sat in my car in disbelief," Traub said.
He said he plans to use his prizes to pay bills and travel.
Traub bought his lucky ticket at Pump N Save located at 3600 Wyoming Blvd. NE in Albuquerque. Previously, the store has sold 28 large-prize winning lottery tickets paying between $600 and $200,000.
(Click to display full-size in gallery)
(Click to display full-size in gallery)
x5
Good Play.
Nice! Everybody was born on the right date to make them numbers hit.
Congrats
Always Megaplier!!
KEWL!!!!!
Well Played> Now that is how it's done!!! A very focused mindset and numberset!
Congradulations you deserve it, ENJOY SPENDING!
Way to go, Steven.
Great "System!"
It's called gambling and Steven simply bet $30 on five numbers. If there was a system it was using all 15 bonus numbers.
Had his crazy strategy matched all five white balls, the NM Lottery would have had to cough up $75,000,000. I'm sure there is a hidden rule somewhere...there always is
Very nice! Congrats to, Steven Traub.
I agree- that's the thing with opportunity:This worked great here, but if someone else tried the same tactic, its likely that they come away empty handed. Lightning struck just right this time.
You do realize that's Jimmy's point, right? If you cut through all of his holier-than-thou BS, I'm pretty sure his underlying message is that "systems" and such are a colossal waste of time and $$$.
No system really, that's why Jimmy put the word "systems" in quotation marks.
Had his strategy worked he would had won more than $75,000,000. If the number 19 can out instead of 48 then 14 tickets would of had all five white balls for $70,000,000 and one ticket would of had five white balls and the mega ball for the jack pot. The jack pot was $25,000,000.... For a Grand total of $95,000,000.
System or no system? Always play it with the megaplier. I cannot emphasize that enough.
Oh happy day! I might try that strategy someday. I have no wife or kids yet hm.
...excuse me but your avatar paints you a female- so what's with the " l have no wife yet statement? "
Just asking.
I don't think it matters in California.
Just noting.
"Betting systems votaries are spiritually akin to the proponents of perpetual motion
machines, butting their heads against the Second Law of Thermodynamics."
The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic by Richard Arnold Epstein
I know Jimmy well enough and his idea of "system" is one size fits all.
That would have been more of a problem for New Mexico than PB since states are responsible for all prizes other than the jackpots. States usually have a cap on the amounts they will pay out but unlike California don't publish it.
I asked Jimmy because for a minute l thought this post was coming out of San Francisco where they let everything hang out...so tospeak. Seeing it's from NY, l figured there is no harm in asking. The last time the wife & l visited Pier 39, this guy who was probably 6'4" walked by you in a Dress & high heels, and he definitely was not a Pacific Islander.
But in his efforts trying to prove his point, he usually grossly exaggerates average lottery play. The story doesn't say if it's Steven Traub normal play or if he played that way one time on a whim.
Yes. They'd rather leave players guessing rather than have a rule that goes back and bites them hard.
Jimmy failed to prove when the same amounts of money are spent that "systems" are any more a waste of money than any other strategy. Spending lots of money on lotteries without a strategy probably cause more waste of money than well thought out systems.
Since you clearly don't recognize sarcasm when you see it, you've
now shown that you are not only innumerate, but illiterate as well.
Playing 15 lines with all 15 bonus numbers with the megaplier is a "system" or strategy in my opinion, it guaranteed he would win at least $8 of his $45 back.
Sorry I confused PowerBall with MegaMillions, playing that way guaranteed he would win $2 of his $30 back.
That's awesome! Nice wins!
"Since you clearly don't recognize sarcasm "
I've said many times you know very little about lottery players and lottery play and you just keep on proving me right. Traub used the same betting strategy (aka system) Steve Player used. https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/272686
When are you going to run a simulation on this system?
wonderful, i hope he doesn't loose it in lottery thinking he could win again.
Just think what he has already lost if he has been playing that way since the new matrix with 15 bonus balls started. I'm guessing since he played for two drawings and got lucky on the first, that was his normal way of playing. That's $60 a week for the last 78 weeks but he can continue to play that way for a while without showing a lost now that he's won $60K.
Even though $60K was nice he probably thought about what if he had played that 48 instead of 19.
He was probably going for the jackpot so he'll probably continue to play like that until he wins a jackpot or goes broke.
I think it's amazing matching 4 of 5 with Megaplier. I matched 4 back in 2008 when we didn't have megaplier in MA and got paid $150. It felt amazing.
This is why I always play megaliper WHEN I play.
Congratulations Mr, Steven Traub Spend Wisely
MEGA MILLIONS JACKPOT IS $77 MILLION ON 7/29/2014.
You can have a chance to win the jackpot for $1.