Burnsville couple wins the $228.9 million Powerball jackpot
Thomas and Kathleen Morris of Burnsville are winners of the $228.9 million Powerball jackpot. Photo from Minnesota State Lottery
After a few days of mystery, the winners of the $228.9 million Powerball jackpot have revealed themselves.
Thomas and Kathleen Morris of Burnsville purchased the winner at the SuperAmerica on Cedar Avenue in Lakeville, which will receive a $50,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
The jackpot is the highest in Minnesota history. The last time someone won a major Powerball jackpot in Dakota County was in 2006 when Michael Hawes of Lakeville had a winning $47 million ticket he purchased in Bloomington.
The winning ticket was the fourth of five Thomas Nelson purchased on Wednesday for that night’s drawing, according to the State Lottery. He said he normally buys only three Powerball tickets, but had $5, so he bought five. The fourth one proved to be the charm.
“It wasn’t my normal pattern,” Morris said in a lottery press release.
He reportedly said as the clerk handed him the ticket: “You don’t need to sell any more tickets — I have the winning one.”
Morris said he folded the ticket, put it in his pocket and forgot about it. He then drove to Indiana for a job assignment.
The next evening Kathleen was watching TV as the winning Powerball numbers were announced.
“I thought, ‘We wouldn’t have played those numbers; they have no significance to us,” she told Lottery officials. But Thomas used the random pick option for his tickets.
As the Morris’ were watching the evening news on Aug. 11, they heard that the winning Powerball ticket was sold in Dakota County.
“It’s too bad we didn’t have a ticket,” Kathleen recalled saying to Thomas, but he said he did buy some.
They checked the tickets together and found they had the winning one worth $228.9 million.
The Morris’ have 60 days to choose the annuity payment of $228.9 million or the cash option of $123.6 million ($83.7 million after tax withholding), according to the lottery.
If players choose the annuity, the annual payments will be increased each year by a percentage set out in the Powerball game procedures. The annuity payment is approximately twice the estimated cash jackpot amount.
State and federal taxes, as well as any amount due under the Revenue Recapture Act, are withheld.
– Aaron Vehling and Tad Johnson, Thisweek Newspapers
