The number 39 rang a bell with Joseph Cunningham of Omaha when he heard the lottery numbers on the news late last week. He had bought three quick-pick tickets for Friday’s Nebraska Pick 5 daily drawing while shopping at a Hy-Vee Food Store on South 178th Street.
He knew two of his plays had 39 in them.
“I figured maybe I’d won at least a free ticket,” Cunningham said, according to a Nebraska Lottery press release.
He did better than that. One of his plays matched all five numbers: 10, 23, 34, 35 and 39. That was good for a $200,000 payoff, beating odds of 1 in 658,008.
“It was such a shock,” Cunningham said.
Oh, and a second play matched two numbers — good for that free ticket.
He and his wife, Pam, told lottery officials they plan to upgrade their vehicle, and donate some of the money to charity.
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The Cunninghams wasted no time collecting their winnings. But at least one other winner stands to lose out if they don’t step forward pretty soon, said Neil Watson, a Nebraska Lottery spokesman.
He said a Nebraska Pick 5 ticket for the Dec. 3, 2023 drawing — also worth $200,000 — is set to expire May 31.
The ticket was purchased at a Kwik Shop convenience store in Falls City. If it’s not claimed, the prize money will be returned to the lottery pool.
“We’ve got signs up at the store,” Watson said.
Unclaimed prizes from all scratch and lotto games in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023, totaled $4,242,614. Watson said the last unclaimed Nebraska Pick 5 ticket, worth $86,000, expired Dec. 14, 2021, and was sold in Omaha.
Jeremiah Ehlers of Greeley, Nebraska, wasn’t going to let that happen to him. The 48-year-old manager of a convenience store stopped by lottery headquarters Friday to claim a $300,000 prize he won in the “Diamond Dollars” scratch game, according to a press release.
Last Thursday night, Ehlers and a co-worker had been playing scratch tickets without success, he told lottery officials.
“I joked that the next one was going to be the big winner,” he said. “I bought it the next morning and I was right.”
Ehlers said he couldn’t believe it at first. He scanned the ticket several times to make sure got it right. Then he hurried to Lincoln — 142 miles away — to claim the prize.
“I thought, ‘I have to go right now,’” he told lottery officials. “I drove straight all the way here.”
Diamond Dollars tickets are $30 each. The odds of winning the $300,000 top prize are 1 in 128,000.
Other recent local lottery winners:
- Josephine Casillas of Omaha, who claimed a $40,000 prize in the “Lucky Dog Loteria” scratch game April 9.
- Brittany Ellison of Lincoln, who claimed a $50,000 Powerball prize April 8.
- Stacie Butler of Council Bluffs, who claimed a $10,000 “Ruby Red Crossword” scratch prize in the Iowa Lottery Apri
- l 5.
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