Winner employed tactic used by dozens of other winners but emerges the most successful

By Kate Northrop

The Hoosier Lottery has awarded half of a $143 million Powerball jackpot to an LLC after the winner came forward with a similar story that dozens of other winners in the drawing had to tell.

One Indiana resident claimed a $71.7 million share of a $143 million Powerball lottery jackpot last week, becoming the 40th Powerball jackpot winner in Hoosier Lottery history.

It was a historic win in what the Multi-State Lottery Association coined the "Night of Millionaires," when 89 players across the United States raked in a second-tier prize of at least $1 million, with two winners sharing a $143 million jackpot.

The April 29 draw produced results 3, 19, 35, 51, and 67, with red Powerball number 15. The massive number of winners was attributed to a pattern on several states' play slips, in which the winning numbers aligned with one another in the layout of the slip.

For example, the Hoosier Lottery boasted the greatest number of second-tier prize winners that night at 19, in addition to the jackpot winner. The Hoosier Lottery's Powerball play slip lines every white ball number next to one another in a vertical column.

But the jackpot winner, who maintained their anonymity by claiming under an LLC, had that last stroke of luck that beat out all the rest by matching the red ball number as well.

So lucky, in fact, that her winning ticket was one of the tickets in her stack that did not fly out the car window in a draft.

The longtime lottery player confirmed to the Lottery that she did pick her numbers for the April 29 drawing by choosing ones that were in a vertical line on the play slip. She purchased it while grocery shopping at Al's Supermarket on East Lincolnway in La Porte.

A few days after the drawing, she remembered to check her collection of tickets. She was sitting in the car in her driveway and pulled the pile out of her purse when one of the tickets flew out of the open window.

As she reached for the car door to grab it, the numbers on another ticket caught her eye — they looked like they resembled the winning ones from the drawing. The ticket that flew out the window was no longer important.

"I was numb," she recalled to Lottery officials when she realized she won the jackpot. "I was just speechless, in disbelief."

The Lottery announced on July 1 that the La Porte resident opted to take the lump sum cash option of her portion of the prize, which amounts to $32,603,357.68. With her newfound wealth, she'll make some smart investments.

And of course, that leaves plenty more for fun. While she hasn't yet decided whether she'll keep working or retire, she's a big Chicago Bears fan and plans on attending some football games next season. At the top of her bucket list is a big priority — taking a dream trip to Alaska.

For selling the winning ticket, the retailer receives a $100,000 bonus from the Lottery.

"Indiana's connection to Powerball began with the game's very first jackpot winner in 1992 and more than three decades later, we're still making history," Lottery Executive Director Sarah M. Taylor said in a press release. "The April 29 drawing produced our record-setting 40th Powerball jackpot winner, along with 19 additional millionaires. With this claim, we've had the privilege of celebrating each Champion of Play and closing out Indiana's Millionaire Moment."

The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Monday, July 6 currently stands at $416 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 Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.