It worked for her in the past!

By Kate Northrop

MAUMELLE, Ark. — An Arkansas woman wanted to win Powerball so badly, she slept with her lottery ticket under her pillow — and she woke up to a $2 million prize the next morning.

While children will place their baby teeth under their pillow to look forward to a visit from the Tooth Fairy, some lottery players rest their heads on their tickets dreaming of that big win. For one Arkansas woman, that dream came true when she woke up the next day.

An anonymous Arkansas resident found her Powerball ticket to be worth $2 million after placing it underneath her pillow the night of the Dec. 13, 2023 drawing.

After one of her daughters had offered money to her to play the lottery before the drawing took place, the avid Powerball and Mega Millions fan completed her routine grocery run and decided to stop by the Circle K Store on Counts Massie Road in Maumelle. There, she bought some tickets on a whim and paid for $15 worth of tickets, making sure to include the Power Play option.

"I said I was going to win big," she told the Arkansas Lottery.

That night, she slept with her tickets underneath her pillow, perhaps counting dollar signs instead of counting sheep. After all, it's worked out for her in the past — she's won a $100,000 lottery prize employing the same strategy.

When she woke up the following day, she knew she had won but was not sure what the amount was.

"How much is five numbers?" she had asked her daughter over the phone.

Her daughter replied that it could have been $100,000 or $1 million, but she didn't want to overwhelm her mother with the real amount until they saw each other in person, the Lottery said. One thing she did say with certainty was that her mother should sign the ticket.

The "real amount" was indeed the better of the two — a $1 million prize bumped up to $2 million thanks to the 2X Power Play multiplier. She matched all five white ball numbers — 3, 8, 41, 46, and 64. Had she matched the Powerball number 18, she would have won that night's jackpot valued at $504.1 million.

"I can't believe this," the winner related to the Lottery. "Little old me. Your new millionaire, right here in Arkansas."

She called her other children to celebrate what she called "a miracle," overwhelmed with gratitude for the win.

Having claimed her prize at the Little Rock Claim Center on Friday, the lucky woman plans to move out of her apartment and into a new home. She also doesn't plan on quitting playing the lottery anytime soon — she has her eyes on hitting a jackpot next.

As retailers receive a 1% commission for selling winning lottery tickets, the Circle K Store will get a $20,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling the player's winning Powerball ticket.

The Powerball jackpot currently stands at $543 million for the next drawing on Mon., Dec. 18 at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.

Powerball is played in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time.  Tickets cost $2 each.

Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com).  The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.