ALBUQUERQUE – A woman from Las Cruces claimed a $2 million Powerball® prize today and she’s playing the same lucky numbers tomorrow for a chance at the jackpot of $380 million.
Romana Saavedra, who claimed her prize in person at New Mexico Lottery headquarters in Albuquerque, was lucky twice in the Nov. 29 drawing.
First, Saavedra’s ticket matched the white ball numbers of 13, 24, 30, 42 and 48 to win $1 million.
Above: Romana Saavedra, winner of $2 million Powerball® prize
Then her prize jumped to $2 million because she purchased the game’s $1 Power Play® feature. Power Play multiplies non-jackpot prizes.
Saavedra, who has played the same birthdates and anniversaries on every lottery ticket for the past five years, discovered her prize Monday after retrieving old tickets from her car and purse. She checked approximately 20 tickets with winning numbers posted online. When she discovered the winning ticket, she called her husband.
“I was shaking,” she recalled for lottery officials. “It’s something you can’t believe.”
Saavedra said she plans to share her prize with her family.
“I’m lucky because I have three great kids,” she said.
Saavedra said she regularly plays lottery games because she believes in supporting the Legislative Lottery Scholarship program.
“I tell people all the time that buying a ticket helps kids go to school,” she said.
Saavedra’s three sons attended college on Legislative Lottery Scholarships. Two graduated from New Mexico State University and one graduated from the University of New Mexico.
Saavedra bought her lucky ticket at the Western Refining Store located at 2210 E. Lohman Ave. in Las Cruces.
Previously, the store has sold three large prize-winning tickets paying between $1,500 and $50,000. For selling the $2 million-winning ticket, the store is eligible for a $2,500 New Mexico Lottery bonus.
The odds of winning a $2 million Powerball prize are 1 in approximately 5.1 million. Saavedra missed landing the night’s jackpot of $90 million by not matching the winning red Powerball of 27.
New Mexico Lottery Millionaires
Five Powerball jackpots and six Hot Lotto jackpots have landed in New Mexico. The state’s largest lottery prize is a Powerball jackpot of $206.9 million won by a pool of nine players from the Roswell area in September 2008.
Another 17 players have won prizes ranging between $1 million and $2 million.
Legislative Lottery Scholarships
Since its inception in 1996, the New Mexico Lottery has raised $632.9 million for education and more than 97,000 students have attended college on Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
More information about Legislative Lottery Scholarships is available at www.nmlottery.com.