“Am
I reading this right?”
Powerball® player Orban Winton didn’t
quite believe what he was seeing so he asked his wife for help. Pam Winton
confirmed her husband’s conclusion. According to the winning numbers posted
on the New Mexico Lottery website, he had won a $10,000 prize from the Aug. 2 drawing.
Winton matched four white ball numbers and the red Powerball, a combination that
ordinarily pays a $10,000 prize. The Socorro resident said discovering the
prize was “so distracting,” that he completely overlooked another important number
that would increase his windfall to $50,000.
Winton had added Power Play® to his quick
pick wager for an additional $1. Power Play multiplies non-jackpot prizes
by two, three, four or five times, depending on the Power Play number drawn.
On Aug. 2, the number “5” was drawn as the multiplier. It wasn’t until Winton
took the ticket to lottery retailer Video Shack that he learned he was richer by
$50,000.
“I was in shock,” Winton recalled. “I decided that I had to take the afternoon
off.”
Winton plans to use his prize to pay bills and then save the rest. The self-employed
real estate appraiser purchased his winning ticket at Video Shack at 419 California
NE in Socorro. This lottery retailer has sold 12 other large prize-winning
lottery tickets ranging between $1,000 and $55,000.
Through her work as a teacher, Pam Winton knows many students who have attended
college on Legislative Lottery Scholarships. Since
its inception in 1996, the lottery has raised $361 million for public education
in New Mexico and more than 50,000 students have received Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
“We’re both so glad that the money goes to education,” Orban Winton said.
Lottery Beneficiaries in Socorro County
As of the Spring 2007 semester, more than 340 high school graduates from Socorro
County have received $1.5 million in Legislative Lottery Scholarships. More
than 380 students have received $5.7 million in scholarships to attend the New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro.Information on Legislative Lottery
Scholarships is available at www.nmlottery.com
