Nebraska woman who cut back on playing the lottery wins $1 million Powerball prize

Aug 3, 2022, 7:26 pm (5 comments)

Powerball

It's the "biggest thing she'd ever won"

By Kate Northrop

OMAHA, Neb. — A once-daily Powerball player is now reaping the rewards from reducing her habitual play, having won a $1 million second-prize after having cut back on her playing.

Wendy Donahue of Omaha, Nebraska has just won the most momentous prize of her life after scooping up a $1 million Powerball prize in the July 25 drawing.

It's also the "biggest thing she'd ever won," next to a cake she won in a cake walk when she was 14 years old, she told the Nebraska Lottery.

Donahue was formerly a daily Powerball player, but decided to cut back on her ticket purchases. However, the fervor for the nearly $1 billion Mega Millions jackpot at the time had stirred up an old habit.

She had stopped at the Baker's grocery store on North 155th Plaza in Omaha to buy some tickets for a swipe at the behemoth Mega Millions jackpot and ended up playing Powerball while she was at it.

After the Powerball drawing took place on July 25, she and her husband, Kevin, heard that there was a winning ticket for a $1 million prize sold at the Baker's they bought their tickets at. They whipped out their tickets and started checking the numbers.

"We thought, 'What if?'," Donahue said in a press release. "I zoned in on the third line and said, 'I think we hit $1 million!' We were both screaming."

Turns out, one of the plays on Donahue's ticket matched all five white ball numbers — 25, 37, 38, 39, and 65 — but missed the Powerball number 5.

They put the winning ticket in a safe, awaiting their visit to Lottery headquarters in Lincoln days later to redeem it. On July 29, she transferred the ticket to her purse and softly laid the bag in the backseat of their car before the ride.

"That was the most stressful drive of my life," Kevin remarked.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Bleudog101

Congratulations Wendy...good old Powerball came through!

ErikB14's avatarErikB14

Congratulations 🎊 Donahue and families 💰💵💴👏👏👏

billybucks

The most stressful drive of his life which he shouldn't have done. That is a treacherous drive from Omaha to Lincoln on that Interstate 80. Trucks. You want to see huge tractor trailer trucks take that road. I would have taken the softer and obviously longer trip on rte. 6 which gets you there. They were both mentally distracted and should have gotten someone else to drive them there. I am sure they were discussing what to do with money all the way. They pulled it off though. Also remarkable that she was cutting back on lottery play but bought the Power ball with the other one so huge. Good story though.

db101's avatardb101

Quote: Originally posted by billybucks on Aug 3, 2022

The most stressful drive of his life which he shouldn't have done. That is a treacherous drive from Omaha to Lincoln on that Interstate 80. Trucks. You want to see huge tractor trailer trucks take that road. I would have taken the softer and obviously longer trip on rte. 6 which gets you there. They were both mentally distracted and should have gotten someone else to drive them there. I am sure they were discussing what to do with money all the way. They pulled it off though. Also remarkable that she was cutting back on lottery play but bought the Power ball with the other one so huge. Good story though.

It's a very good point.

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

Someone in PA hit Powerball last night.

Both jackpots are low now (PB $20 mil - MM $36 mil).

We can all "cut back on playing" for a while.

Congrats to the Donahues.

End of comments
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