With just over 24 hours to spare, an Austin resident arrived at the Lottery's headquarters in Roseville to claim a $50,000 prize.
Her winning Powerball ticket was purchased for the Jan. 13, 2016, drawing and was set to expire at 5 p.m. today.
Debra Newman said she doesn't play the lottery often and had only purchased the ticket at the urging of co-workers when the jackpot had reached $1.5 billion a year ago.
"The jackpot got big and everybody at work said, 'Just go buy a ticket!'" she said
Newman said she didn't claim the prize earlier because.
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"It was a rough year and I thought for sure [the deadline to claim] was February. I heard on the news that a ticket purchased in Austin was going to expire and I thought, 'Wait a minute, that's me,'" she said. "The year went quickly."
When she told her co-workers about her win, she said: "They went nuts! We had our two minutes of screaming."
Kwik Trip, located at 1201 W. Oakland Ave. in Austin, sold the winning ticket.
There were 12 $50,000 winning Powerball tickets sold in Minnesota for the Jan. 13, 2016, drawing, one of which has not yet been claimed and will expire at 5 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2017, if a winner does not come forward. That unclaimed winning ticket was purchased at SuperAmerica, located at 514 Third St., in Jackson.
Lottery players have won more than $6.5 billion. More than $2.7 billion in lottery proceeds go back to the state, with more than $1.1 billion helping to preserve, restore and protect Minnesota's environment in each of the 87 counties and almost $1.5 billion has helped fund state programs including education, public safety and health and human services, the lottery reported. Go to www.mnlottery.com for more information about the Minnesota Lottery.
