CLIVE, Iowa (KCAU) — A Waterloo man has claimed two prizes he won in Saturday’s Powerball drawing, with one a bit bigger than the other.
Anton Garrett claimed a total of $2,000,021 in Powerball prizes. He bought five Powerball plays on one ticket for Saturday’s drawing, and on one of those plays he won a $21 prize. On another, he won $2 million.
He chose his own numbers, playing a combination of family birthdays, anniversaries and other significant dates.
“I always dreamed I would win,” Garrett said as he claimed his prize Monday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. “It’s something I could just see.”
Garrett, 48, who works at Tyson Foods in Waterloo as a forklift operator, bought his winning ticket at New Star Liquor, 1625 W. Fourth St. in Waterloo. On one of his plays, he initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. But he also added the Power Play® option to his ticket, which multiplies that prize at the Match 5 level to $2 million. It multiplied his smaller prize from an initial $7 to $21.
His ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize in Saturday’s drawing.
Garrett’s wife, Astrid, traveled with him as he claimed his prize, and admitted that she had given him a hard time about buying lottery tickets.
“But I did good Saturday,” Garrett said with a laugh.
Saturday’s winning numbers were: 12-17-20-21-26 and Powerball 8. The Power Play number was 3. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $168 million annuity ($117 million lump-sum option) for Wednesday.
New Star Liquor will receive a $2,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $2 million-winning ticket.
Garrett said he learned early Sunday that he had won a big prize when he stopped at another nearby store for coffee and had the clerk there check his Powerball tickets. The lottery terminal unexpectedly began printing out ticket receipts and a prize claim form.
“The machine started spitting out all this paper,” Garrett said. “The clerk said, ‘What’s all this?’ Then he read it and said, ‘I think you won $2 million!’”
Garrett said that he and his wife planned to invest his winnings for retirement and buy a new home.
Garrett’s prize is Iowa’s second big Powerball win this year. In February, a western Iowa man claimed a $500,000 Powerball prize. Gene Dice Sr. of Sergeant Bluff had purchased his ticket at a local convenience store for the Feb. 20 drawing.