Brant Edgington’s yen for salad led to a big Mega Millions payday.
The single dad from Fremont stopped by a Baker’s Supermarket on Bell Street a couple of weeks ago to buy a pre-made salad for his lunch the next day.
Although his dad and grandfather are avid lottery players, Edgington told lottery officials he rarely plays, according to a Nebraska Lottery press release.
“As a single parent, baloney is more important, financially,” he explained.
But the burgeoning Mega Millions jackpot tempted him, and Edgington decided to drop $10 on five quick-pick tickets for the March 22 drawing.
He almost didn’t do it. Someone ahead of him was cashing some scratch tickets, and it took awhile, he told lottery officials. But he stuck it out.
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A few days later, Edgington took the tickets back to the store. He handed them to a clerk to scan in and see if he’d gotten lucky.
Yes, he had.
“She told me: ‘Don’t pass out when I tell you this,’” Edgington told lottery officials.
One of the tickets matched all five white numbers (3, 8, 31, 35, 44), beating odds of 1 in 12.6 million to win the $1 million prize. So did four other players in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas. A fifth winning ticket, in Virginia, was worth $3 million because the player had paid extra for a multiplier.
That was lucky, but it could have been luckier. Nobody in that drawing matched all six numbers including the yellow Mega Ball number (16). That would have been worth $977 million (or $467 million for the lump-sum cash option) and beaten odds of 1 in 302 million.
Those figures are expected to be surpassed in Saturday’s Powerball lottery drawing, in which the jackpot is projected to be $1.3 billion (or $609 million lump sum). That’s the fourth-largest jackpot in the game’s history. The biggest was in November 2022, when one winner in California won a $2.040 billion jackpot. The largest Powerball prize in Nebraska, $365 million, was won by a group of eight Conagra employees in Lincoln in February 2006.
Now Powerball has gone without a grand prize winner since Jan. 3, a span of 40 games.
Some Nebraskans have still claimed some Powerball cash during that long run, though. In the past three months, five winning tickets matching four numbers plus the Powerball have been sold in the state. Each was worth $50,000.
Mark Maxwell of Omaha won Feb. 3 and Cynthia Flatt of Papillion won March 20. A 72-year-old man from Brownville (March 20) and a 68-year-old woman from Omaha (Feb. 10) requested anonymity.
One ticket sold in Lincoln for Wednesday’s drawing hasn’t yet been claimed.
The big-money interstate lotteries get most of the ink, but scratch tickets are what have paid off big for Lisa Werthmann of Omaha.
In 2019, she won $1,000 playing a Nebraska Lottery scratch ticket.
Last week, the 59-year-old mail carrier scored again on a “50X the Cash Scratch” ticket she bought at a Family Fare supermarket on Harrison Street — this time, to the tune of $200,000.
To say Werthmann was shocked to win such a big prize might be an understatement.
“You don’t want to know the word that came out of my mouth when I found out,” Werthmann told lottery officials when she claimed the prize money Thursday.
To claim the big prize on the $20 ticket, Werthmann beat odds of 1 in 140,000. She plans to spend some of her winnings on a new car and save the rest for retirement.
The Nebraska Lottery: 25 years of fun
A look at how the state has benefited from more than $700 million in funding for education, the environment, the State Fair and gambling assistance programs.
The $704 million raised in the past 25 years has benefited people and programs across the state.
The annual event, which marks its 150th anniversary next year, is now flourishing.
The need-based financial-aid program reduces financial obstacles for Nebraska students.
Proceeds of $299 million have allowed the Nebraska Environmental Trust to do a wide variety of projects in all 93 counties.
Lottery ticket profits have supported counseling services and a helpline for the last 25 years
Nebraska Lottery Scratch and Lotto games are available at more than 1,200 retailers across Nebraska. Visit nelottery.com for more information.
For the past few years, Coffin’s Corner has been the top seller of the Nebraska Lottery’s Scratch tickets.
Get alerts on new games, contests and promotions, and access to updates on research and surveys.
A Nebraska Lottery sponsored feature produced by the Omaha World-Herald.