By Todd Northrop
Sometimes persistence does pay off.
Colorado's biggest lottery jackpot winner in state history says she has played the same five numbers in the lottery every week, without fail, for the past 30 years.
On Wednesday, Grand Junction area resident Judy Finchum claimed a $133.2 million Powerball jackpot, won in the Saturday, Sept. 16 drawing, making her the biggest jackpot winner ever in the state, and only the third Colorado player to win a Powerball jackpot.
Judy has played the same set of numbers for 30 years — longer than the Powerball game has been around — and the wait finally paid off, to the tune of $133.2 million.
The six winning numbers from the September 16 drawing, 17, 18, 24, 25, and 31, with Powerball number 24, include birthdays of Judy's children and loved ones.
She held a short press conference on Tuesday at the Lottery's Grand Junction office surrounded by her husband, Mac, and several family members. When asked whether Judy was retired she said, "As of 6 o'clock on Sunday morning, I am!"
The store where she usually buys Powerball tickets from — Lucky Me Super Store — was awarded $50,000 for selling the winning ticket.
Judy and her husband have decided to receive the lump-sum cash option of $66 million after taxes instead of the 29-year annuity payout.
Judy is planning to retire while her husband is looking to use the money to fix or replace his pickup truck.
She and her husband said they've never lived an extravagant lifestyle and have no plans to change that. They want to help people affected by recent hurricanes and fires in the United States, and give back to the local community as well.
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Matrix...Smatrix !
Play your #s even if they are B-day #s
WTG on lump sum and retirement.
Fix your truck??? Get a brand new one unless you are attached to that old one.
Really nice story and congratulations. Perseverance paid off handsomely!
OMG. Her husband looks exactly like my brother-in-law in Texas. Same dower expression, travel mug probably filled with the strongest coffee on the planet, and the "C'mon and git this over with - I got work to do" looking attitude. Of course he'll fix his truck instead of buying a new one! LOL!
The "experts" say that you can't win this way LOL!
She has the last laugh!
What a great story. Persistent and consistent. Congrats and enjoy !!!
This is proof that it’s impossible for Birthday numbers to lose.
"Sometimes persistence does pay off."
That should read "rarely" instead of "sometimes". I'm sure I'm not the only one on here who can tell stories of numbers being played for decades and not winning anything.
My Fantasy 5 numbers that I have played since the very first draw still have not even paid out over $10 and as of this month it has been over 13 years.
That's about 4750 draws and the odds of winning $100 are somewhere around 3300 to 1.
Anyway, congrats to them at least they won finally.
Wait a min!!! Are you trying to say you are Related to the winner ???
LOL!!!
These are exactly the kinds of folks I love to see win big jackpots. The Divine One upstairs has seen fit to bless them, and rightly so.
What makes one an "expert" when it comes to playing lotteries?
im not a pb lover at all and or mm better odds weekly on p4 and p3
but when i DO play it, when really really real high i do only birthdays,partial license plates, partial socials and stuff like that.
Congrats to this family.
Congratulations--persistence wins again
I've heard them on radio and seen them on TV!
They will tell you that you can't win the way that she played!
Cassie8620, You are a free adult. You can play any numbers you want to.
Good Luck to you and all the LP Members.
Congratulations to this lucky couple from Colorado!!
Is anyone having a problem betting via 5D?
I'M GLAD TO HEAR COLORADANS WON!!! I miss The Mile High City!
ENJOY and LIVE THE HIGH LIFE!!!
Wow! I never knew experts say that! I always WIN between $4 and $28 on Birthday numbers. I once won $300 playing Powerball. But Pick 4 is MY game.
Congrats!!!
i could not have found a better quote in think. hmm.. i got one. Never Give Up Never Surrender!. hehehe
I tried it back in 2014, but won nothing. But the first time I took Megabus to Memphis, I won $3,600 on Pick 4. The following weekend I took Megabus to St. Louis and won $1,500. From there I flew to New Jersey and won $560 and won $1,250 in Rhode Island. I left 5D alone and hit the road playing Pick 4.
Wow! Congrats to you! I have been playing two sets of special numbers not quite that long. 11 years only. Won a 100 dollars, but was not my numbers that won. It was a quick pick i got on my ticket. But i still play them numbers every drawing. 16 bucks a month in hopes of winning. That would be a life changer! Good Luck everyone!
Birthday numbers have won jackpots, this one and the 7 or 800 million dollar jackpot just recently. Wow same numbers for the past 30 years that just shows how hard it is to win but yet she beat all odds.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!133.2 MILLION DOLLAR POWERBALL WINNER!!!
I think I found a traveling companion--LOL. Happy to hear of your wins. Will play in Ohio this weekend as well as Indiana and Kentucky. Still have some draws left from Detroit...only thing with their tickets it doesn't have an end date leaving the customer to figure it out. Only state that I've played, and I've played lots of states that does this.
Congrats to the winner. I never play any numbers more than 2 times in a row. Am I wrong, but wouldn't it be stressful worrying about whether you played your numbers...in a hurricane, snowstorm, and other life emergencies, etc? I could not do it.
My first reaction to this article was someone really got some mileage out of one play slip!
She looks happy. He looks like he doesn't appreciate having $133 million intruding on his day. ROFLMAO. Adorable looking couple nonetheless.
As for the birthday number issue, I've never heard any "expert" say that birthday numbers don't win. Even if someone was idiotic enough to say it, who would believe them when all numbers have an equal chance of popping up.
I've heard people say you shouldn't play birthday numbers because chances are you'll end up sharing the lottery with a lot of people if those numbers do come up. But so what? Better a win than no win. Plus, we've now seen enough people be the sole winner of large jackpots on birthday numbers to put that bit of "advice" to bed.
Sorry for this is not on the subject. Did any LP see today's Price is Right? They have the big wheel second set of spins on a popular website to watch it. It is well worth watching IMO.
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That's the way to do it.
I don't know what the 'experts' say, but though there's no guarantee, I've been alluding to the couple's exact method, in my signature below.
At my age, I can't wait 30 years !! LOL
Me either!
I've already been playing 30 some years. 30 more years puts me in my 90's.
I have not seen it in years. Was lp on it?
No, three people spun the big wheel and won quite a bit of money each. Been posted everywhere. Not big money to us LP members by any stretch.
That was the third Powerball jackpot winning pick that was a California Super Lotto Plus pick and the second time in the year 2017, it ended in a double number (24)!
That's part of playing the games; time is of the essence. The best advice I can give is: don't live in a state of emergency, play for multiple drawings. If anyone is worried about lottery tickets in a hurricane situation, you're right. It would be stressful.
Yes, I like to travel and gamble. Michigan's lottery keeps you guessing. As a matter of fact, I have Michigan Pick4 playslip. You can play up to 60 draws. Since you're going to Ohio, try these two Pick 5 predictions: 17717 and 15808. These predictions can also be played in D.C., FL, GA & PA.
Wow. I'd be so worried about doing something like that because if I forget one time and then bam I'd be devastated lol. Hats off to her. 30 years. She looks happy.
Some will only need to wait 30 years, others will have to wait hundreds of thousands of years.
Congratulations Judy .......
I watched video. You could feel the wheel luck. Bigest money won in all the years of the show.
Most of the time you hear: I played these numbers for years, and the ONE time I didn't play....!"