Iowa City Woman Wins $50,004 in Powerball® Prizes
Deborah Thoman Wins Big in Saturday's Drawing
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CLIVE, Iowa — An Iowa City woman won $50,004 in prizes in a recent Powerball drawing using a set of meaningful numbers.
'We have set numbers," Deborah Thoman told officials on Monday as she claimed her prize at the Iowa Lottery's Cedar Rapids regional office. 'Those are birthdates of us and our kids."
On one of her plays, Thoman matched four of five white balls and the Powerball in Saturday's drawing. Her ticket was one number away from winning that night's $608 million jackpot.
She and her husband, Bill, purchased the winning ticket at Casey's, 370 Scott Court in Iowa City. He checked the numbers the day after the drawing with the Iowa Lottery mobile app.
'He said, 'Debbie, come look at this!'" Thoman recalled. 'We were both kind of in shock. It's like, 'Wow, $50,000! That's a lot of money!'"
The winning numbers in Saturday's drawing were 8-11-19-24-46 and Powerball 5. The Power Play® number was 2. The jackpot has continued to climb since then, with Wednesday's jackpot sitting at an estimated $672 million.
Thoman, who said she and her husband plan to save the winnings for now, said she always had a hunch she might win.
'I've always said, it's not if we win the lottery, it's when we win the lottery," she said. 'This was our win!"
Since getting its start in April 1992 in 15 states with jackpots that started at a guaranteed $2 million, Powerball has grown into one of the world's biggest and most recognizable lottery games. Today Powerball is played by 48 lotteries with drawings at 9:59 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
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