By Todd Northrop
Sometimes persistence does pay off.
Colorado's biggest lottery jackpot winner in state history says she has played the same five numbers in the lottery every week, without fail, for the past 30 years.
On Wednesday, Grand Junction area resident Judy Finchum claimed a $133.2 million Powerball jackpot, won in the Saturday, Sept. 16 drawing, making her the biggest jackpot winner ever in the state, and only the third Colorado player to win a Powerball jackpot.
Judy has played the same set of numbers for 30 years — longer than the Powerball game has been around — and the wait finally paid off, to the tune of $133.2 million.
The six winning numbers from the September 16 drawing, 17, 18, 24, 25, and 31, with Powerball number 24, include birthdays of Judy's children and loved ones.
She held a short press conference on Tuesday at the Lottery's Grand Junction office surrounded by her husband, Mac, and several family members. When asked whether Judy was retired she said, "As of 6 o'clock on Sunday morning, I am!"
The store where she usually buys Powerball tickets from — Lucky Me Super Store — was awarded $50,000 for selling the winning ticket.
Judy and her husband have decided to receive the lump-sum cash option of $66 million after taxes instead of the 29-year annuity payout.
Judy is planning to retire while her husband is looking to use the money to fix or replace his pickup truck.
She and her husband said they've never lived an extravagant lifestyle and have no plans to change that. They want to help people affected by recent hurricanes and fires in the United States, and give back to the local community as well.
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Matrix...Smatrix !
Play your #s even if they are B-day #s
WTG on lump sum and retirement.
Fix your truck??? Get a brand new one unless you are attached to that old one.
Really nice story and congratulations. Perseverance paid off handsomely!
OMG. Her husband looks exactly like my brother-in-law in Texas. Same dower expression, travel mug probably filled with the strongest coffee on the planet, and the "C'mon and git this over with - I got work to do" looking attitude. Of course he'll fix his truck instead of buying a new one! LOL!
The "experts" say that you can't win this way LOL!
She has the last laugh!
What a great story. Persistent and consistent. Congrats and enjoy !!!
This is proof that it’s impossible for Birthday numbers to lose.
"Sometimes persistence does pay off."
That should read "rarely" instead of "sometimes". I'm sure I'm not the only one on here who can tell stories of numbers being played for decades and not winning anything.
My Fantasy 5 numbers that I have played since the very first draw still have not even paid out over $10 and as of this month it has been over 13 years.
That's about 4750 draws and the odds of winning $100 are somewhere around 3300 to 1.
Anyway, congrats to them at least they won finally.
Wait a min!!! Are you trying to say you are Related to the winner ???
LOL!!!
These are exactly the kinds of folks I love to see win big jackpots. The Divine One upstairs has seen fit to bless them, and rightly so.
What makes one an "expert" when it comes to playing lotteries?
im not a pb lover at all and or mm better odds weekly on p4 and p3
but when i DO play it, when really really real high i do only birthdays,partial license plates, partial socials and stuff like that.
Congrats to this family.
Congratulations--persistence wins again
I've heard them on radio and seen them on TV!
They will tell you that you can't win the way that she played!