Iowa – A Waterloo man has claimed two prizes he won in Saturday’s Powerball® drawing – with one a bit bigger than the other.
Anton Garrett claimed a total of $2,000,021 in Powerball prizes from Saturday’s drawing. He had purchased five Powerball plays on one ticket, and on one of those plays he won a $21 prize. On another, he won $2 million.
He chose his own numbers, playing a combination of family birthdays, anniversaries and other significant dates.
“I always dreamed I would win,” Garrett said as he claimed his prize Monday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. “It’s something I could just see.”
Garrett, 48, who works at Tyson Foods in Waterloo as a forklift operator, bought his winning ticket at New Star Liquor, 1625 W. Fourth St. in Waterloo. On one of his plays, he initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. But he also added the Power Play® option to his ticket, which multiplies that prize at the Match 5 level to $2 million. It multiplied his smaller prize from an initial $7 to $21.
His ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize in Saturday’s drawing.
Garrett’s wife, Astrid, traveled with him as he claimed his prize, and admitted that she had given him a hard time about buying lottery tickets.
“But I did good Saturday,” Garrett said with a laugh.
Saturday’s winning numbers were: 12-17-20-21-26 and Powerball 8. The Power Play number was 3. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $168 million annuity ($117 million lump-sum option) for Wednesday.
New Star Liquor will receive a $2,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $2 million-winning ticket.
Garrett said he learned early Sunday that he had won a big prize when he stopped at another nearby store for coffee and had the clerk there check his Powerball tickets. The lottery terminal unexpectedly began printing out ticket receipts and a prize claim form.
“The machine started spitting out all this paper,” Garrett said. “The clerk said, ‘What’s all this?’ Then he read it and said, ‘I think you won $2 million!’”
Garrett said that he and his wife planned to invest his winnings for retirement and would buy a new home.
Garrett’s prize is Iowa’s second big Powerball win this year. In February, a western Iowa man claimed a $500,000 Powerball prize. Gene Dice Sr. of Sergeant Bluff had purchased his ticket at a local convenience store for the Feb. 20 drawing.
Players in $2 Powerball choose their first five numbers from a pool of 69, and another number – called the Powerball – from a separate pool of 26. The Power Play® option is available for an extra $1 per play.
Since getting its start in April 1992 in 15 states with jackpots that started at a guaranteed $2 million, Powerball has grown into one of the world’s biggest and most recognizable lottery games. Today Powerball is played by 48 lotteries across the country with drawings at 9:59 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.