Las Vegas resident Joseph P. Baca is $1 million richer.
Baca, a dedicated player of New Mexico Lottery games, matched all five of the white
numbered balls from the Aug. 9 Powerball® drawing. Ordinarily this prize-winning
combination pays $200,000, but the prize was quintupled because Baca added the game’s
Power Play® option to his wager for $1 more. Power Play multiplies non-jackpot
prizes by two, three, four or five times, depending on the Power Play number drawn.
On Aug. 9, “five” was drawn as the Power Play multiplier.
“For most of my life, I didn’t feel lucky,” Baca said, “but I’m changing the way
I’m thinking now.”
Baca nearly missed his chance at winning the $1 million prize. He rushed to
the store to buy his ticket 20 minutes before sales closed for the Saturday night
drawing.
“I didn’t even tie my tennis shoes,” he said.
Baca and his wife, Loretta, plan to invest their $1 million windfall so that they
can own their radio station KLVF outright as well as the property it sits on and
the surrounding acreage.
“The lottery bought us the station and all the land up on KLVF hill,” he said.
Baca’s play was a “quick pick”. The winning numbers were 32, 40, 43, 49 and
53.
The winning ticket was purchased at Ross Oil Co., Inc. at 700 Grand in Las Vegas.
Last year, this lottery retailer sold a $125,000 prize-winning ticket for the lottery’s
New Year’s Eve Raffle™.
Lottery Beneficiaries in San Miguel County
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 $361 million for public education
in New Mexico and more than 50,000 students have received Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
As of the Spring 2007 semester, 880 high school graduates from San Miguel County
have received $3.4 million in Legislative Lottery Scholarships. Approximately
$3 million in scholarships have been awarded to 1,250 students enrolled at New Mexico
Highlands University. Information on Legislative Lottery Scholarships
is available at www.nmlottery.com.
