Council Bluffs Man Wins $100,000 Powerball® Prize
Bradford Barnes Claims Large Prize in Oct. 30 Drawing
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CLIVE, Iowa — A Council Bluffs man who won a $100,000 Powerball prize said he didn't realize right away that he'd won big.
Bradford Barnes, 65, matched four of five white balls and the Powerball in the Oct. 30 drawing. He bought his winning easy-pick ticket at Hy-Vee, 2323 W. Broadway in Council Bluffs.
He didn't think to check his ticket until he stopped in the store the following week to buy a couple tickets and the employee mentioned the big winner from the week before.
"She goes, 'Well, here a week or so ago, we had a big winner for $100,000,'" Barnes recalled. "I said, 'Well, I'll bring my ticket in,' because I knew I had the Powerball number."
He brought the ticket in on his next visit and had the employee check the ticket on the store's lottery terminal.
"She said, 'You're the one! I knew you were the one!'" Barnes said. "I said, 'Really?!'"
His initial $50,000 prize was doubled because he opted for the $1 Power Play® add-on, which multiples non-jackpot prize amounts by up to 10 times. He claimed his prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Clive.
Barnes, who was one number away from winning that night's $116.1 million jackpot, said he planned to use his winnings to pay bills, pay off his truck and care for his mother.
The winning numbers in the Oct. 30 drawing were 5-23-28-43-56 and Powerball 19. The Power Play was 2.
Players in $2 Powerball choose their first five numbers from a pool of 69, and another number – called the Powerball – from a separate pool of 26. The Power Play option is available for an extra $1 per play.
Since getting its start in April 1992 in 15 states with jackpots that started at a guaranteed $2 million, Powerball has grown into one of the world's biggest and most recognizable lottery games. Today Powerball is played by 48 lotteries across the country with drawings at 9:59 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
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