THE LUCKY SEVEN GROUP COMES FORWARD
TO CLAIM THEIR $200,000 LOTTERY PRIZE

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"The Lucky 7" from Davenport Claims $200,000 Prize from July 22 Powerball® Drawing. Can the May Council Bluffs' $200,000 winner be far behind?

DES MOINES, Iowa – When a Davenport man returned from vacation, he realized the celebrity everyone was looking for was him.

Ken Ehlers plays Powerball along with a group of six of his co-workers. He is the one in charge of buying and checking their tickets. After the drawing on Wednesday, July 22, Ehlers began his vacation, leaving a very important ticket behind.

In the mean time, the staffs at both the Iowa Lottery and the local Hy-Vee Gas store have been searching for the winner or winners who had the winning ticket.

"We've had nearly 10 million winning Powerball tickets that have been sold across the country. In Iowa we've had over 208,000 winning Powerball tickets during this jackpot run. Ehlers' ticket is just one of many of those winning tickets," said the Iowa Lottery CEO, Terry Rich.

The $200,000-winning ticket was sold at Hy-Vee Gas, 2353 W. Locust in Davenport. It came close to winning it all, matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball to win a $200,000 prize. The winning numbers that night were: 4-6-16-22-32 and Powerball 11.

After returning from his vacation, Ehlers got a call from a co-worker who had seen the story of the unclaimed ticket on the news.

"I don't always check the numbers; I let them accumulate a little bit. There was an unclaimed ticket at the Hy-Vee right across from where I live. He texted me and said, 'You better check the numbers,' and I said, 'I'm on it!'" Ehlers said.

Ehlers got on his computer and went to the Iowa Lottery's Web site to check the winning numbers. When he saw the winning numbers for the July 22 drawing were the numbers he plays, he knew he needed to find his ticket.

"I had to go through all my tickets and find the one from that date. I tried texting him back and I couldn't because my fingers weren't working right, so I straight up called him. He was standing there with a couple other co-workers and said, 'This is Kenny on the phone. We got it!'" Ehlers said.

Ehlers said the group has known about the winning ticket since last week, but had to wait for the seventh member of the group to get back from her own vacation so she could be there when they claimed the prize.

"One of the girls' birthday is today. She says it's a birthday she'll remember," he said.

Ehlers and other members of the group claimed the prize money Tuesday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.

The $200,000 prize will be split seven ways. One of the members of the group plans to buy new vehicle and several plan to save their portion.

Although the group asked not to have their employer's name released, they are calling themselves "The Lucky 7."

Ehlers said "The Lucky 7" does plan to keep playing Powerball, including participating in Wednesday night's drawing. The jackpot amount for Wednesday’s drawing is now $250 million.

"I told everyone, 'Before I die I'm going to see Joe Cocker, I'm going to get a bulldog, and I'm going to win the lotto.' But I don't consider this the win of the lotto. This is just a luxury speed bump until we hit the big one!" Ehlers said.

Pictured in the photo are five of the seven members. They are (from left): Stephen Dreifurst from Moline, IL; Peggy Burchett from Moline, IL; Ken Ehlers; William Ware from Milan, IL; and Kimberly Schaber from Davenport. Not pictured are Bryan Sands from Silvis, IL and Richard Mathias from Coal Valley, IL.

The $200,000 prize was one of two unclaimed prizes of that amount in the state. A $200,000-winning Powerball ticket purchased in Council Bluffs remains unclaimed along with numerous other lottery prizes in Iowa of up to $20,000.

The Council Bluffs ticket was sold at Eddy's, 3434 Nebraska Ave., for the Powerball drawing on Saturday, May 9. It came close to winning it all, matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball to win a $200,000 prize. The winning numbers that night were: 4-15-32-49-58 and Powerball 21.

Players in Iowa have up to 365 days from the date of the drawing to claim Powerball and Hot Lotto prizes. Players have up to 90 days from the date of the drawing to claim prizes in Iowa’s $100,000 Cash Game and the Iowa Lottery's Pick 3 and Pick 4 games. If the expiration date falls on a weekend or holiday when the lottery's offices are closed, the winner has until the close of business on the next business day to turn in the ticket.

Tickets for these major Iowa Lottery prizes also have yet to be claimed:

Powerball:

In fiscal year 2009, more than $1.3 million in prizes went unclaimed in Iowa lotto games. Unclaimed prizes go into prize pools for future lottery games.

Players can visit the Iowa Lottery at 2323 Grand Ave. in Des Moines or go to one of the lottery's regional offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Mason City or Cedar Rapids to claim a prize.

Winning numbers may be checked at the lottery Web site at www.ialottery.com or through the winning numbers' hot line at (515) 323-4633. Winning numbers may also be checked with lottery retail outlets or by calling the lottery at (515) 725-7900 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.2 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.1 billion for state programs.