$1 Million Nebraska Powerball® Prize Split by 16 Co-workers

February 14, 2012– A group of 16 players from the Omaha area will share a $1,000,000 Nebraska Powerball prize.

Each week for almost a decade, Christopher Braun of Omaha and his 15 co-workers at the City of Omaha Roads Department have pooled their money together to purchase Powerball tickets. For the Wednesday, February 8 drawing, the group purchased 16 quick pick tickets at Kwik Shop, 7525 Cass Street in Omaha. One of these tickets contained all five the winning white ball numbers (17, 28, 38, 39, 51) for a corresponding prize of $1,000,000.

This is the first automatic million dollar winning ticket in Nebraska since Powerball was upgraded on January 15, 2012. Previously, the amount won for matching only the first five numbers was $200,000.

Braun and the members of the group arrived at Nebraska Lottery headquarters the morning of February 14 to claim the prize. The other group members are: Mark Schartow of Omaha; Donald Phillip of Omaha; Michael Banks of Omaha; Eugene Cosey of Omaha; Michael Miller of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Jeffery Plater of Omaha; John Narec, Jr. of Omaha; Bryan Luttig of Omaha; Christian Kubat of Omaha; Cameron Hurd of Omaha; Joseph Hoagland of Omaha; Daniel Hussey of Omaha; Scott Arnold of Omaha; Damita Peak of Omaha; and John Falkner of Omaha.

Each person will receive a $62,500 share of the prize. The group members had no definite plans for their winnings, but some stated they might use their share to travel, pay bills, or buy a new vehicle.

The odds of winning $1,000,000 playing Powerball are 1 in 5,513,632, while the overall odds of winning any prize were 1 in 31.8.