Lawrence Resident One Number Away from Powerball Jackpot - Wins $10,000

Wayne Martin was quite surprised Thursday morning after checking his Powerball ticket and discovering he had won a $10,000 cash prize.  The Lawrence resident, who matched four numbers plus the Powerball in the February 20 drawing, was literally one number away from winning the $70 million jackpot for that night's drawing!  The winning numbers were 03-17-19-25-32 Powerball 17.  Martin's winning numbers were 03-17-19-25-33 Powerball 17.

"You can't get any closer to winning a jackpot than that," said Martin.  "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have won $10,000.  It's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but it's hard getting over how close I came to winning $70 million."

Martin said he plays $10 worth of Powerball every Wednesday and Saturday, which gives him five sets of numbers on his ticket.  He picks his own numbers for the first set of numbers and always choses Quick Picks for the other four lines of numbers.  Martin won the $10,000 cash prize on the third set of Quick Pick numbers on his ticket.

"I've been buying $10 worth of tickets for two years," said Martin. "I always play the same numbers on the first line and Quick Pick the rest.  I'm glad I added the Quick Pick numbers to my ticket or I wouldn't have won."

Martin, who owns and operates Royal Crest Lanes, located at 933 Iowa St. in Lawrence, where he purchased his winning ticket, has been married to his wife Talain for 25 years.  They have six children and 10 grandchildren.  He was undecided how he would spend his prize winnings, but mentioned there may be a trip to Las Vegas in his future.