Fifteen
friends who have been playing New Mexico Lottery games as a pool for six years claimed
a $400,000 Powerball® prize on Monday.
The friends – mostly co-workers at Albuquerque Public Schools – pooled $28 to buy
tickets for the June 7 Powerball drawing. They purchased 14 tickets at $1
each and then spent an additional $1 to add Power Play® to each wager. Power
Play multiplies non-jackpot prizes between two and five times, depending on the
Power Play number drawn.
On Sunday morning, they discovered that the numbers on one of their tickets matched
the winning numbers of 12, 26, 34, 44 and 48 from the drawing’s numbered white balls.
Ordinarily, this combination is worth a $200,000 prize, but because the friends
added Power Play to their wagers, the prize was multiplied into a $400,000 windfall.
The Power Play multiplier drawn on June 7 was “2”.
The 15 friends are Henry Aragon, Ismael Baca, Charlean Barela, Jimmy Bierner, Genaro
Cano,
Arlene Chavez, Gary Chavez, Yolanda Chavez, Nestor Griego, Frank Jackson, Ruben
Jepson,
Michael Pino, Philo Ramirez, Tina Romero and Martin Segura. They all reside
in Albuquerque.
Genaro Cano was the first player to realize the pool had won a six-figure prize.
He used his cell phone’s web browsing service to retrieve the winning numbers.
He excitedly called fellow player Martin Segura, who called pool organizer Gary
Chavez. Chavez – characterized by his co-workers as “very trustworthy” – was
in possession of the pool’s original tickets.
With their checks in hand, several players mentioned taking trips and buying Harley
Davidson motorcycles. Two players from the pool have children attending college
on Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
The prize-winning
ticket was purchased at Diamond Shamrock No. 1236 at 3440 Isleta Blvd. SW in Albuquerque.
This lottery retailer has sold 30 large prize-winning tickets ranging between $1,000
and $100,000.
$355 Million Raised for Education
All net revenues from the sale of lottery games benefit the Legislative Lottery
Scholarship program, which provides tuition assistance for New Mexico residents
attending the state’s public colleges and universities.
Since its inception in 1996, the lottery has raised $355 million for public education
in New Mexico and more than 50,000 students have received Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
Approximately 14,500 students from Albuquerque have received $75 million in college
scholarships.
Information on Legislative Lottery Scholarships is available at
www.nmlottery.com.
