Omaha Man Wins $82,000 Nebraska Pick 5 Jackpot

March 31, 2011– Steven Ernst of Omaha recently won $82,000 playing Nebraska Pick 5 from the Nebraska Lottery.

There were more than 7,500 Nebraska Lottery winners in the Monday, March 21, drawings. Among these winners was Ernst, who purchased a quick pick ticket at Kwik Shop, 6845 South 167th Street in Omaha. The ticket was good for five drawings and contained all five of the winning numbers (10, 13, 16, 22, 28) from the March 21 drawing for the $82,000 jackpot.

Two hundred and twenty-two Nebraska Lottery players have won the Nebraska Pick 5 jackpot to date.

While claiming his prize on March 24, Ernst told Nebraska Lottery officials that he didn’t realize he had won the jackpot prize at first. “I just kept looking at the numbers,” said Ernst. He plans to pay bills using his winnings.

Nebraska Pick 5 is Nebraska's unique Lottery game: all the proceeds from Nebraska Pick 5 stay in Nebraska, and all the winning tickets are sold in Nebraska at Nebraska Lottery Lotto game retailers. The odds of winning the Nebraska Pick 5 jackpot, which starts at $50,000 and grows by $4,000 each drawing that it is not won, are 1 in 501,942. The overall odds of winning a prize in the game, which has drawings six nights a week, are 1 in 8.