(Iowa Lottery Statement) – Gayle Fraker bought her winning ticket while out running errands in the middle of a downpour. With the weather, she decided to stop at a different store than the one where she usually buys her tickets.
“It was raining so hard, and I was all wet, so I just went to the store that was closest to me,” she said. “And then Thursday at work, everybody was saying, ‘Somebody won $500,000 on Powerball last night!’”
Fraker, 60, a supervisor at DM Services Inc., a direct-mail company in Clinton, said she’d left her tickets at home, so she wasn’t able to check them until hours later after work. And then she started up a Snapchat storm with her adult children.
“I took a picture of my face as I’m screaming,” she said with a smile. After her family all converged at her house that night, she had them double-check her ticket to ensure she hadn’t made a mistake.
“I said, ‘Check it, check it, am I right?’” she recalled. They assured her that she had, indeed, won.
Fraker bought her easy-pick ticket at the Kwik Star, 911 S. 14th St. in Clinton. She came within one number of having at least a share of Wednesday’s $87.3 million jackpot.
Her ticket matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to initially win a $50,000 prize. But she also had added the Power Play® option to her purchase, which multiplied her prize to $500,000. Fraker said she always adds the Power Play so that if she wins, she’ll win big.
Wednesday’s winning numbers were: 27-47-61-62-69 and Powerball 4. The Power Play number was 10. Fraker’s ticket was one of three in the country to win a $500,000 prize, while a ticket in California won a $1 million prize.
Kwik Star will receive a $500 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $500,000-winning ticket at one of its stores.
Fraker said she plans to use her winnings to pay off her mortgage and all her bills, then plan for retirement.
“My heart hasn’t stopped pounding yet,” she said. “I’m just thinking about everything, you know, what I can do.”
Fraker claimed the second $500,000 Powerball prize won in Iowa this month. A Waterloo man won a $500,000 prize by purchasing the same type of Power Play ticket for the Powerball drawing on July 8. Tu Kha Maung, 29, claimed his prize July 10.
Fraker admits she told a small white lie as she was on her way to claim her prize Monday, and she anticipates she’ll really hear about it soon.
“I didn’t go to work today,” she said. “Some people are texting me: ‘Did you win the money? Is that why you’re not here?’ And I’m like, ‘No.’ So now when I go back to work tomorrow…”
Players in $2 Powerball choose their first five numbers from a pool of 69, and another number – called the Powerball – from a separate pool of 26. The Power Play option is available for an extra $1 per play.
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 across the country with drawings at 9:59 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
