STARKVILLE — A Lowndes County man walked into a Sprint Mart in Starkville on Saturday and walked out with a winning Powerball ticket worth $100,000.
The winning ticket was originally worth $50,000, but the Lowndes man also selected a power play option on the ticket, doubling his prize before walking away from the convenience store, located at 12258 Hwy. 182 E., a press release from the Mississippi Lottery Corporation said.
MLC Director of Communications Meg Annison told The Dispatch the winner came to collect the prize Tuesday afternoon at MLC headquarters in Flowood. He chose to remain anonymous and not share any details about the win.
“We never know who a winner is until they walk through the door and, 75% of the time, those people don’t want their identity exposed,” Annison said.
Winners receive their prizes in a lump sum, Annison said. After federal and state taxes, the winner pocketed $69,000.
Matt Bogue, vice president of Dutch Oil Company, which owns the Sprint Mart location, said word of the win has already spread around town and caused an increase in ticket sales, though he declined to release ticket sales data.
“We love being the lucky store,” Bogue said. “It creates a lot of excitement when we have local winners, particularly winners at our stores. When we have the excitement surrounding a win, it does have a positive impact on sales.”
Annison said along with other lottery games – like the Mississippi Match 5 and Mega
Millions – Powerball is among the most popular, with rising interest from players as the jackpots increase.
“When you see the jackpots growing like in the case of Powerball and Mega Millions right now, interest in those two games tend to surge because you start getting people who never play or people who only play once a jackpot gets a certain amount,” she said.
Powerball is a draw-style game played in 45 states like the Mega Millions. The MLC also offers scratch-off games.
To play Powerball, participants pay $2 and select five numbers between one and 69, or a randomly generated number option and a power play number between one and 26. Players can multiply their winnings by between two and 10 by picking the power play option on the card and paying an additional $1.
Retailers receive 6% of ticket sales, with a $5,000 bonus for any ticket that hits a jackpot of $1 million or more.
Annison said the win in Starkville is among some of the larger wins for the game. The last Powerball win locally was a Columbus man winning $1,000 in 2020.
So far, there have been 71 Powerball winners of more than $1,000 since the game started in 2020. Winning numbers are announced Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9:59 p.m.
The state uses its share of lottery ticket sale proceeds to fund highway construction and maintenance and to education.
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