ALBUQUERQUE – It’s been an exciting day at the New Mexico Lottery with numerous winners coming forward to claim prizes. In the last 24 hours, nearly half a million dollars in prizes have been claimed.
$200,000 Powerball® Winners
A lucky group of friends and coworkers decided to invest $20 each in the Powerball draw while at a barbecue last week. Today, they brought their party indoors to claim a $200,000 Powerball prize from the August 23 drawing.
The winners were: John Hernandez, Leon Cabreja, Tim Coughenour, Dylan Ricketts, Robert Molina, Chloee Lamb and Jerome Porter of Albuquerque.
Above: John Hernandez, Leon Cabreja, Tim Coughenour, Dylan Ricketts, Robert Molina, Chloee Lamb and Jerome Porter, winners of $200,000 Powerball® Prize
Their Quick Pick ticket matched the numbers 6, 7, 16, 23 and the Powerball of 4. This would normally be a $50,000 prize. However, they purchased Power Play® for an additional dollar and multiplied their prize by 4 – bringing it to a $200,000 win. The winning ticket was purchased at Giant Station #35 in Albuquerque, located at 10400 Central Avenue SE.
On the night of the drawing, Robert Molina watched the draw and compared the numbers to their tickets. He immediately thought they won $50,000, so he called John Hernandez – who didn’t believe him. The group soon began texting each other, convinced that Robert was pranking them. But Robert wasn’t giving up that easily and persistently kept calling. Eventually, he convinced Tim, who said to his wife, “Hey – I think we won the lottery.” Like the others, she was not convinced and asked for screen shots of the tickets.
Dylan Ricketts was a first-time Lottery player. He was new to the group, and as the rest pointed out, “In the right place at the right time.”
The winners each have ideas about how to spend their prize: invest, purchase a new vehicle, take a cruise, and buy a Harley. And everyone in the Coughenour family will get a fidget spinner.
The group plans to continue to play Lottery together.
$50,000 Powerball winner
Late yesterday afternoon, Angela Baca of Los Lunas claimed her $50,000 Powerball prize from the August 23 drawing. Her Powerball ticket was purchased at Al’s Mini Mart #1 at 102 Rio Communities Blvd. in Belen and matched the numbers 6, 16, 23, 26 and the Powerball number 4. Angela chose her own numbers.
The youngest of 7 siblings, she is now claiming to be her father’s favorite child. She and her father have been playing Powerball since the game was first introduced to New Mexico in 1996. However, neither of them have won this much money before now.
Angela plans on using the money to pay bills and pay off her truck. “My dad didn’t believe I won until now…until he saw the numbers,” she said.
In addition to her own win, Angela’s nieces and nephews are also winners. They are Legislative Lottery Scholarship recipients.
$205,000 Roadrunner Cash™ winner
Eva Garcia of Hernandez purchased a Quick Pick Roadrunner Cash ticket last July when the jackpot was $205,000. She later checked it at the store. A paper printed stating, “Claim at Lottery.” She did not understand what this meant, so the store associate printed the winning numbers for the July 21 draw and handed it to her. Although this revealed she had won the $205,000 jackpot, she still couldn’t believe it since she thought the numbers had to be in sequence.
So, she put the ticket in her bible and held onto it. That was, until she saw all the news about this week’s big Powerball winners in New Mexico and began thinking that perhaps she should bring it to the Lottery.
Just yesterday, her sister Helen had arrived from California for a visit. It seemed like a good time for a family adventure, so she, her sister Helen, and her nephew Joey brought the ticket to the Lottery to have it checked.
It was in fact, a winning $205,000 Roadrunner Cash ticket.
When asked what she was going to do with her winnings, Eva smiled and said, “The Lord blessed me.” She plans to buy a new car and give some of her winnings to the church.
The winning ticket was purchased at Giant #376 at 1313 Paseo de Oñate in Española.
$1 Million and $2 Million Powerball prizes not yet claimed
Meanwhile, the $1 Million and $2 Million winning ticket holders have not yet come forward. The $2 Million winning ticket was sold in Edgewood, and the $1 Million was sold in Moriarty.
The winning numbers for the Powerball August 23, 2017 draw were: 6, 7, 16, 23, 26 and a Powerball of 4.
All drawing game prizes must be claimed within 90 days from the date of the drawing or the first business day after the 90th day if the Lottery is not open for business.
Legislative Lottery Scholarships
Since 1996, the New Mexico Lottery has raised nearly $741.9 million for education and more than 109,000 students have attended college on Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
More information about Legislative Lottery Scholarships is available at www.nmlottery.com.
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