Lottery Group Splits $10,000 Nebraska Powerball Prize

February 25, 2013 – A group of 15 coworkers from Lincoln will share a $10,000 Nebraska Powerball prize.

Every week, Mercedes Heinbigner of Lincoln purchases Powerball tickets for a group of 15 Powerball players at Joe Christensen Printing. The other members of the group are: Michele Cumpston of Lincoln; Terry Larsen of Lincoln; Tom Teeter of Lincoln; Mitch Voyles of Lincoln; Mark Taege of Lincoln; Lillie Williams of Lincoln; Ron Beeman of Lincoln; Nancy Stryck of Davey; Ben Craig of Lincoln; Connie Needles of Lincoln; La Shel Phillips of Lincoln; RaeJean Moore of Lincoln; Terry Schmaizl of Lincoln; and Marilyn Burklund of Lincoln.

For the Wednesday, February 13 drawing, Heinbigner purchased a five-play quick pick ticket at U-Stop, 8350 Northwoods Drive in Lincoln. One play on the ticket contained four of the five winning white ball numbers (12, 23, 25, 27, 43) and the Powerball number (29) from the February 13 draw for a $10,000 prize.

Four hundred and eleven Nebraska Lottery players have won the $10,000 Powerball prize to date.

Heinbigner wasted no time claiming the prize for the group, arriving at Nebraska Lottery headquarters the day after the drawing. She told Nebraska Lottery officials that she learned they had won after seeing the winning Powerball numbers in the newspaper. “I was running late this morning, so I decided to check the winning numbers in the paper at work,” said Heinbigner. “We were one number away from winning it all – we just needed number 43.” She stated that the group has been pooling their money and buying Powerball tickets together for six years. Each player will receive a $666.66 share of the prize.

The odds of winning $10,000 playing Powerball are 1 in 648,975, and the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 31.8.