Park Hills woman wins $40,000 Powerball prize

A Park Hills woman won four times the usual $10,000 prize when she used Power Play for the Oct. 11 Powerball drawing. Sandra Russell, 52, of Park Hills matched four white-ball numbers and the Powerball number to win $40,000. The winning numbers were:  3, 7, 17, 39, 47 and the Powerball number was 9.

Sandra Russell, a restaurant manager from Park Hills, was on her way to work when she decided to stop at Casey’s, 1100 N. Desloge Drive in Desloge, to purchase a Missouri Lottery Powerball ticket.

“I play the same numbers every week,” said Russell.  “But I forgot to check the numbers from Saturday’s drawing until Monday.”

Russell, 52, remembered she hadn’t checked her numbers while waiting for her grandson to come out of surgery on Oct. 13.  With cell phone in hand, Russell looked up the Powerball numbers and was shocked to discover she was a winner.

“I checked the ticket at least four times from my cell phone in the hospital waiting room,” said Russell.  “I kept looking at the date and numbers over and over again.”

Russell, a first-time Lottery winner, said she’s not yet sure what she will do with her prize money.

“I’m just letting it all sink in a little,” said Russell.

Powerball is a multi-state game with jackpots that starts at $15 million.

For an extra dollar, players can select the Power Play option to multiply their non-jackpot prizes between two and five times.