Ticket Mix-Up Leads to $10,000 Mega Millions® Win for Central Iowa Woman
To download image, right click on image, then navigate to 'Save Picture As' to save this file to your computer.
CLIVE, Iowa — A central Iowa woman said some good luck broke her way to produce a $10,000 Mega Millions win.
Katelyn Worple, 28, of West Des Moines said her husband, Jose Nunez, planned to give her a Powerball® ticket for her birthday, but there was a mix-up.
"He asked for Powerball that day," Worple said on Wednesday as she claimed her prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. "He got a Mega instead of getting a Powerball. A week later, it was the $10,000 winner!"
Worple's ticket matched four of five white balls and the Mega Ball in the Aug. 30 drawing. Her husband had purchased the ticket at Kum & Go, 400 Prairie Bluff Drive in Waukee.
Worple said that Nunez checked the ticket during a break at work this week and quickly called her with the news. She was skeptical.
"I'm like, 'No, no. I need pictures, I need photos, I need proof,'" Worple recalled with a laugh. "I ended up taking the girls to daycare, went to his work and got the ticket and scanned it myself, and I was like, 'Oh! OK, I should go!'"
She said she left immediately and, full of nerves, carefully drove to the lottery's Clive office to claim the prize.
"On the way here, I literally had the ticket in the cup holder because I was like, 'I'm so scared to even touch it!'" Worple said.
The winning numbers in Friday's drawing were 2-38-55-57-65 and Mega Ball 17. The Megaplier®, an optional $1 add-on which multiples non-jackpot prize amounts by up to five times, was 3.
Worple said she and her husband plan to put the winnings toward a new vehicle after their cars were damaged in a hailstorm last month.
"Hopefully, this will be enough to give us a down payment, or even close to buying a car," she said. "It depends on what we'll go for."
Players in $2 Mega Millions choose their first five numbers from a pool of 70, and another number - called the Mega Ball - from a separate pool of 25. The Megaplier option is available for an extra $1 per play.
For more information about Mega Millions, visit www.ialottery.com.
Return to top↑