North Platte Man Wins $1 Million Playing Powerball
Randy Houpt of North Platte won $1 million playing Nebraska Powerball.
Houpt won the $1 million prize by matching all five white ball numbers (21, 39, 40, 55, 59) from the September 30 drawing.
When Houpt and his wife Maggie came to Nebraska Lottery headquarters on October 7 to claim the prize, he told officials he’s played Powerball a few times a month since its launch. Houpt said this time, the couple stopped for ice at Prairie Mart, 747 East North Lake Road in North Platte on the way to a friend’s picnic when he decided to pick up a Powerball ticket as well.
“I glanced at the numbers in the newspaper the next day and noticed I didn’t have the Powerball number, so I set it aside,” he said.
Later he checked the rest of the numbers online and saw that his ticket was worth $1 million. He and his wife checked the numbers several times before confirming the win with the Nebraska Lottery.
The retired couple says they plan to finish remodeling their home with the winnings but aren’t sure what else they’ll do.
“We’ve got a long list of possible ideas and suggestions,” he said.
At the time of the September 30 drawing, the odds of winning $1 million playing Powerball were 1 in 5,153,632, while the overall odds of winning any prize were 1 in 31.85.
Published on 10/07/2015