In Richmond, they celebrate Powerball's second prize
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 posted 12:24 PM EST
RICHMOND - Excitement over winning second prize in the Powerball lottery kept Dwight and Jeanie Walton of Estill County tossing and turning all night Sunday.
Excitement turned to shock after they arrived at the Kentucky Lottery Corp. headquarters in Louisville yesterday to claim their prize and found out that, instead of the $200,000 they expected, they'd actually won $667,142.
"I didn't have any idea it was this big a prize," Dwight Walton, 35, said later yesterday at a news conference at the Dairy Mart on Commercial Drive in Richmond, where he purchased the winning ticket.
"I'm still in shock. It's not sunk in yet," said Jeanie Walton, 31.
Winning the money means that the Waltons and their three children may be able to move out of Jeanie's parents' home and into the new house they've been building for the past three years a little quicker, they said. (Dwight has been doing much of the work on the house himself.) The win also means the Waltons will be able to take a "real" vacation for once.
Dwight, a master electrician, and Jeanie, a stay-at-home mom, had talked about the record $365 million Powerball jackpot up for grabs Saturday night while celebrating their 12th wedding anniversary at the Red Lobster restaurant in Richmond.
On their way home they stopped at the Dairy Mart, where Dwight bought a couple of $5 Powerball quick pick tickets. Walton said he usually plays the lottery once a week. He started playing twice a week when the recent Powerball lottery value increased.
The couple had no idea they were winners until Sunday afternoon after Dwight stopped in an Irvine grocery store for a soda. He asked a clerk if anyone had hit the big jackpot; the clerk told him 'no,' but that someone in Richmond had won second prize, he said. Walton pulled the tickets from a sun visor in his truck, where he'd stuck them, and began checking the numbers just after he pulled into his in-laws' driveway.
"I ran and busted through the door," he said.
About 4:30 a.m. yesterday, unable to sleep, he and Jeanie bundled up the children, Ashley, 11, Emily, 8, and Zachary, 4, and headed for Louisville. They reached lottery headquarters before the doors opened at 8 a.m.
The Waltons' winning ticket was one of 42 such tickets that had five matching numbers, but missed the Powerball number, that were sold across the country. Excess prize funds of more than $19.6 million that would have driven the jackpot above $365 million were put in the Match 5 Bonus Pool to be shared by second-prize winners. So, instead of the game's set second prize of $200,000, the Waltons won an additional $467,142.
"I thought we were going to have to pull Dwight up off the floor," said Chip Polston, Kentucky Lottery Corp. vice president of communications.
"I was already tore up, anyway," Dwight said.
With taxes subtracted, the Waltons take is about $460,328.
"It gets a lot off your chest when you've got bills to pay and kids to raise," Dwight said. "We're going to save as much as we can and try not to get in debt ever again."
The Dairy Mart, owned by Jack and Marietta Weller, got $6,671.42 minus taxes for selling the ticket.
"It's going to go back into the store, and some of it will go to employees," Jack Weller said.
The only winning ticket for the biggest jackpot in Powerball history was purchased at a Lincoln, Neb., convenience store.
Dwight said he and his wife were so thrilled about the five matching numbers that they hadn't really thought much about how close they came to winning the big jackpot.
What were the Waltons' immediate plans yesterday?
"I think we'll go home and go to sleep," Jeanie said.lottery winners ge
| Related Links | |
 |
Kentucky Lottery Results |
|
Search Past Kentucky Lottery Winning Numbers |