Stephen Piechocinski of St. Louis is a frequent Powerball player with a morning routine of buying a ticket at his local convenience store on the way to work. As luck would have it, the morning Piechocinski’s routine was shaken up was the very day he would buy a ticket worth $1 million.
With the change in his morning commute, it wasn’t until later in the day that Piechocinski remembered he didn’t have a ticket yet. He then pulled into Wallis Petroleum, 3033 S. Hanley Road in Maplewood, filled up his vehicle with gas, bought a Powerball ticket and went on his way.
It wasn’t until Valentine’s Day that Piechocinski checked his ticket and realized it matched all five white-ball numbers in the Feb. 12 Powerball drawing – 14, 47, 54, 55 and 68.
He loved surprising his family with the big news on Valentine’s Day and said he plans to use the money to retire early.
Powerball is a $2 per play multi-state Draw Game that features jackpots starting at $40 million. Piechocinski’s winning ticket marks the second time a Missouri Lottery player has won the $1 million “Match 5” prize so far in 2020.
All current Missouri Lottery tickets can be scanned on the Lottery’s mobile app or on Check-A-Ticket machines at retail to determine if a ticket is a winner. Current and historical winning Draw Games numbers can also be found at MOLottery.com.
In the most recent fiscal year, players in St. Louis County won more than $168.9 million in Missouri Lottery prizes. Retailers received more than $16.3 million in commissions and bonuses, and an additional $32.3 million went to education programs in the county.