Husband-and-wife team have different strategies when it comes to playing

By Kate Northrop

BRYANT, Ark. — An Arkansas man who prefers to wait to buy lottery tickets until the jackpots grow high enough had his patience rewarded when his strategy won him a $100,000 prize in Powerball.

One Arkansas man and his wife have opposite strategies when it comes to playing the lottery, and it was his lucky ticket that ended up winning a $100,000 Powerball prize this time.

While his wife plays Powerball and scratch-off games frequently, Clinton Keever of Bryant is more reserved when it comes to his lottery play. He prefers to wait for the right time to jump in and participate in a lottery drawing, waiting until the jackpots grow high enough to entice him into playing.

When the Powerball jackpot soared past $1 billion, Keever was convinced to grab a ticket himself. He visited his regular retailer, S&A Gas and Groceries on South Reynolds Road in Bryant, and he purchased three tickets: one with his own chosen numbers and two Quick Picks.

On the eve of the Sept. 3 drawing, Keever's wife watched the news for the winning Powerball numbers. She copied them onto a piece of paper to compare them with her own ticket. Nothing. She called her husband to check the numbers on his ticket.

"What happens if you've got the four white balls and the red Powerball?" Keever asked her.

That's when her eyes blew wide in shock, the couple recalled to the Arkansas Lottery.

"Clinton, I think you won!" she told him.

It was one of Keever's Quick Pick tickets that matched four out of five white ball numbers plus the red Powerball number in the Sept. 3 drawing, but since he purchased his ticket with the Power Play option for an extra dollar, he doubled the usual base $50,000 prize to $100,000 since the drawn multiplier was 2.

The couple didn't waste any time sharing the news with their children, and it was a restless night before heading to Lottery headquarters in Little Rock bright and early the next day.

"We were so excited we couldn't sleep," Keever's wife said to Lottery officials. "Everything inside is shaking like crazy."

Keever wants to purchase a new car with the winnings. Although the $100,000 prize is Keever's biggest win to-date, the husband-and-wife team said that it's not stopping them from playing for the Powerball jackpot.

The winning numbers in the Sept. 3 Powerball drawing were 3, 16, 29, 61, and 69, with red Powerball number 22. Keever held one of 36 tickets in the nation to win the $50,000 base prize in the drawing.

The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Wednesday, Sept. 10 currently stands at $33 million.

Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., 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 website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Clinton Keever and his wife have opposite strategies when it comes to playing the lottery, and it was his lucky ticket that ended up winning a $100,000 Powerball prize this time.