OSCEOLA COUPLE CLAIMS $400,000 PRIZE

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Steve and Sheri Reynolds Win in May 14 Powerball Drawing

DES MOINES, Iowa - An Osceola couple had a ticket worth hundreds of thousands of dollars tucked away in a wallet for more than three weeks before they realized it was a big winner!

Steve and Sheri Reynolds of Osceola won $400,000 in the May 14 Powerball® drawing. Steve purchased the winning ticket at Casey's, 114 N. Main St. in Osceola. The couple claimed their prize Monday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines, accompanied by Sheri's mom Louise.

The Reynoldses were running late on Saturday on their way to a wedding in Fort Dodge when they finally had the ticket checked. Steve was filling the car up with gas and Sheri went into the store to buy a sandwich.

“I…asked the [clerk] if she would check my ticket. So I bought the sandwich and she said, ‘Thank you.’ I said, ‘Um, my ticket? Can you check that for me?’” Sheri said. “She…put it in the [lottery] machine and when she pulled it out it said, ‘Winner.’”

At that point, she thought she'd won only a few dollars.

“I thought, ‘Good, I won $2 or something,’” Sheri recalled.

The clerk printed a claim receipt for the Reynoldses to take to the lottery office to claim their prize.

“She looked at it and she said, ‘Oh my gosh.’ And I said, ‘What?’” Sheri said. “She put the ticket down in front of me and there was the $400,000. And you talk about dance!”

The couple then drove to their daughter's house in Osceola and had her keep the ticket while they went to the wedding.

“And I dreamed that night that her cat ate the ticket,” said Steve.

The Reynoldses plan on giving their two daughters some of their prize money. They will also make some home improvements and perhaps rent an RV for their vacation to Colorado with their daughters and their families this summer.

“I keep [trying to convince] them that there's an east coast, too,” Louise interjected.

Sheri's mother used to live in West Des Moines and now lives in Virginia.

“I think I can come see you now,” Sheri laughed.

The winning Powerball numbers for the May 14 drawing were: 19-21-29-32-46. The Powerball was 32. The Power Play౦ multiplier was 2.

Steve said he normally doesn't play the Power Play, but after he bought a ticket in April without it, Sheri gave him a hard time. So he paid the extra $1 this time. Because the Reynoldses played the Power Play option, they won $400,000 instead of $200,000!

“That's why she's getting half of it!” Steve laughed.

Players can increase their prizes with the Power Play (except the jackpot) up to five times. The cost is $1 per play.

Just before the Powerball numbers are drawn, the Power Play wheel is spun. Slots on the wheel list the numbers 2 through 5, indicating the amount non-jackpot prizes will be multiplied if that number is drawn.

Winning numbers may be checked by calling the lottery at (515) 725-7900 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Winning numbers may also be checked through the winning numbers' hot line at (515) 323-4633, at the lottery Web site at www.ialottery.com or with lottery retail outlets.

Since the Iowa Lottery's inception in 1985, more than $2.1 billion has been awarded in prizes and more than $1.1 billion has been raised for state programs.