DOUBLE POWERBALL PRIZE: WOMAN WINS IN IOWA, MISSOURI

To download digital audio files of this story, right click here, then navigate to "Save Target As" to save this file to your computer.

For media-ready jpeg image of Pam Mirka and her fiancé Harold click here.

Pam Mirka Claims $20,000 Prize from June 20 Powerball® Drawing

DES MOINES, Iowa – Unsure if she'd purchased her lottery ticket in her home state, a Missouri woman bought an Iowa Powerball ticket and won in both states!

Pam Mirka, 53, travels with her fiancé Harold, who is a truck driver. Mirka has been playing the same Powerball numbers for three years, and didn't want to miss her chance to win a big prize.

"Our theory is, the one week we miss would be the week the numbers would hit," Mirka said.

Mirka, who lives in Foristell, said she couldn't remember if she had bought a ticket for the June 20 drawing in Missouri because she couldn't find it. To be sure she had her numbers, she bought a ticket in Iowa when she and Harold were driving through Harold's hometown of Creston.

Mirka was unaware of her win until she stopped into a gas station in Missouri to buy a friend a candy bar and had the ticket scanned.

The winning numbers on June 20 were: 3-11-18-22-28 and Powerball 33. The Power Play multiplier was 2. Mirka matched four of the first five numbers drawn and the Powerball to win a $10,000 prize. She added the Power Play® to her ticket, which multiplied her $10,000 win by two, so she won a total of $20,000.

Mirka said she always chooses the Power Play.

"It's worth the extra dollar!" she said.

Mirka claimed her prize Friday at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Council Bluffs. She bought her winning Powerball ticket at Casey's, 403 E. Townline in Creston.

Mirka plans to use her winnings to pay bills and plan for her wedding.

Players can increase their prizes with the Power Play (except the jackpot) up to five times. The cost is $1 per play. The Power Play number, 2 through 5, is chosen at the beginning of the drawing indicating the amount prizes (except the jackpot) will be multiplied if that number is drawn.

For players who choose the Power Play and match five white balls (regularly a $200,000 prize), the multiplier will always be 5, so those players would win an instant $1 million.

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.

Players may 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 prizes.

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