FORT MAHAVE, Ariz. — A substitute teacher from Fort Mohave, Arizona, walked into the Arizona Lottery's headquarters Monday and put two weeks of rumors, speculation and excitement to rest, claiming a $95.3 million Powerball prize.
Sheila Verke, 64, held the single prize-winning ticket, but her identity had been a mystery since the Dec. 1 drawing.
She accepted a jackpot check in person Monday, accompanied by friends and financial advisers.
She took the prize as a lump sum of $49.9 million rather than a 30-year annuity for the full prize.
"This will make so many changes in my own life and the lives of my family," she said.
She said she expects to bank the money and live on the interest. She quit her job and plans to buy an RV and begin touring the country.
Verke bought the ticket at a Safeway store in Fort Mohave, just south of Bullhead City in western Arizona. She said she regularly played the same numbers, a combination of family birthdays, for the past six years.
The announcement that a single winning Powerball ticket had been sold in Fort Mohave caused a sensation in the small community on the Colorado River.
When no one stepped forward in the first week to claim the prize, rumors began to swirl. Perhaps the winner was not at least 21 years old, the minimum legal age to play the Lottery in Arizona. Perhaps a winter visitor had bought the winning ticket, stuck it away and forgot about it.
The rumors were put to rest Monday. Verke said she didn't come forward sooner because she was busy working out a plan for the money.
Safeway gets $25,000 for selling the winning ticket. Company officials said Monday that $5,000 of that is being donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Colorado River, which serves Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Laughlin, Nev.
"We had so many rumors it's unreal," said John Jenkins, assistant manager of the Safeway store that sold the winning ticket. "It's so nice that it has come out and so nice that it is someone local."
Verke said she moved to Arizona from Montana in 2000 and doesn't have plans to move out of Fort Mohave. She said she is divorced, with two sons and five grandchildren.
She had to bite her tongue a few times since the announcement that the winning ticket was sold in her hometown, especially when she stopped in to Safeway. Store employees had been asking their regular Lottery players if they had won or knew the winner. Verke told only a select group of family, friends and her financial advisers.
Arizona Lottery Executive Director Jeff Hatch-Miller called the prize a "major, major win" for Verke and told her he hoped it would be a "blessing in her life."
The winning numbers were 5-10-11-12-20, and Powerball was No. 2.
Big wtg Sheila, enjoy.
Congrats to Ms. Verke
Sounds like a very smart lady for going about claiming it the way she did. Good luck on your tour of the country...
Wow, people are winning lotteries -- right and left and during this holiday season, too! What wonderful timing and great lottery winnings bestowed upon the winners. Good luck in their future endeavors.
WTG Sheila!
Waiting for my Holiday Win!
Congratulations to Ms. Verke
and all others who won $$$ from this drawing -
I just love it when lottery money gets spread around
to lots of winners - especially during the holiday season
Well, congratulations, it's a great, after-taxes win!
From Yahoo News:
A single parent with two children and five grandchildren, Verke said she used a well-worn strategy to win the December 1 top prize -- picking a set of numbers and staying with them each week for years.
Her winning combination of 5-10-11-12-20, with a Powerball number of 2, is a combination of her birthday and that of her two children, she said.
"I picked these numbers at least 6-and-a-half years ago and stuck with them. Even if I had to gather quarters, nickels and dimes, I bought them," she told reporters.
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So many sytems sellers say don't play birthdays, anniversaries, etc....
Good for her.
divorced hey? doenst that mean automatic law suit form the ex to claim half? i mean its almost mandatory, i know id be suing. even though i know i dont have a right or deserve it, im sure the courts will gimmme something.
Store employees had been asking their regular Lottery players if they had won or knew the winner.
I wonder why they didn't check out the footage like I read in most stories. I've read quite a few where the next day they have a pretty good idea of who bought the ticket, though they never reveal who won unless the person has already revealed themselves. I'd expect the store here I stop at here to do that, especially since I wouldn't claim immediately, and I wouldn't really care since they'd know the face but not the name. I'd figure after a week and a half their nosiness would get to them.
Congrats to the winner though, even though as HaveABall said she could have done things a little better in terms of gifting money.
At Coin Toss, that's the thing about the lottery... whether it's birthday plays, numbers from a fortune cookie, wheeled numbers or quick picks they all have an equal chance to hit the jackpot. When I first saw these numbers I had a strong feeling someone had won with birthday picks.
Dream last night that some one i knew got shot numbers please LP Friend
congragulations to her!,but i am just wondering why she took simetime to show up! is it may be she wanted the new's to settle abit,I GUESS SHE MUST HAVE KEPT her winning ticket worth $ 95 Million under her billow every night! beacuse I guess you can imagine how can manage to live with yourself after winning a jackpot anf THEN only to LOOSE THE WINNING TICKET!,god forbide not me!