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Surprise Prize: Powerball Ticket in Checkbook for Three Months worth $10,011

An Ashland man is changing his "Powerball ticket-checking routine" after discovering he had a $10,011 winning ticket for more than three months. 

"I don’t check my tickets very often," said Roger Morris with a laugh. 

Morris, 58, has a habit of purchasing Powerball tickets and then letting the tickets pile up for weeks, and in this case, months at a time.

"I stick them in my checkbook, and usually when I change books out, I will pull them out,"
he explained, referring to his Powerball tickets.

According to his wife, Dee-Dee, "He never thinks he’s going to win."

The time came to "change out" his checkbook, so Roger gave Dee-Dee "25 tickets to check" at a Check-A-Ticket machine while she was grocery shopping.

"He had a $3 winner and a $10 winner, and the rest weren’t winners, except that one," she said.

When she scanned the Powerball ticket from the May 22 drawing, the machine said she would have to see a store clerk.  Assuming the ticket was worth a few hundred dollars; she put it aside, and continued shopping.

The following morning, Roger and Dee-Dee traveled to Missouri Lottery headquarters in Jefferson City to claim the unidentified prize amount.  It wasn’t until they handed the ticket to a Lottery representative that they learned how much they had won.  They matched four white-balls and the Powerball to win a $10,011 Powerball prize from the May 22 drawing. 

"I could hardly breathe!" exclaimed Dee-Dee.  

Roger, owner of Roger Morris Excavating and Bar-M Farms in Ashland, said that the experience has motivated him to "maybe check them (his tickets) a little more regularly."

"She won’t let them stay in my checkbook near as long!" he added.

The winning numbers from the May 22 Powerball drawing were:  19, 20, 40, 47, 57, and the Powerball was 29.  Morris purchased the winning ticket at Fast Lane, 602 E. Broadway, in Ashland.

Powerball is a multi-lottery Numbers Game with jackpots that start at $20 million.