Hutchinson Resident Wins $10,000 Playing Powerball
A couple of days after the March 3 Powerball drawing, Michael
Appel of Hutchinson stopped by a convenience store to check his
tickets. The first ticket he scanned on the store's
Check-A-Ticket machine read, "Not a winner." The second
ticket he scanned read, "Sign back of ticket. Redeem at
Lottery." A bit confused by the message, he asked a store
clerk to check his ticket to see if she would receive the same
message. And, she did. Much to their surprise, Appel's
Powerball ticket was worth $10,000!
Appel matched four numbers plus the Powerball on a $2 Quick Pick
ticket, winning the cash prize. He was one number away from
winning the Powerball jackpot. The winning Powerball numbers
in the March 3 drawing were 29-30-45-47-49 Powerball 35.
Appel's winning numbers were 29-30-47-49-56 Powerball 35.
"My first thought when I realized how much I had won was, 'This
will pay for a semester and a half for my kids' college tuition,'"
said Appel. "Both of my kids attend KU and
college is very expensive, so this will help a lot. When I
called my wife Kim, she thought I was lying to her. It didn't
sink in with her until later that afternoon."
After signing the back of his winning ticket, Appel put it in
his wallet for safekeeping until he was able to claim his ticket at
Lottery headquarters in Topeka.
"I kept the fact that I won low key," said Appel. "I
haven't even told my kids because they'll have other ideas on how
to spend it besides using if for their tuition."
Appel purchased his winning ticket at Kwik Shop 768, located at
8 N. Main St. in South Hutchinson. He plans to
continue purchasing $2 Quick Pick Powerball tickets once a
week. Maybe next time he'll match all numbers and win a
Powerball jackpot.