Nurse Carries $50,000 Winning Ticket in Purse for Over a Month

Sep. 23, 2022

A $50,000 winning Powerball ticket was forgotten in a nurse’s purse for over a month before she realized it was a winner.

She explained she’d purchased the ticket and tucked it into her purse – where it stayed until she went to a Missouri Lottery retailer to scan a different Powerball ticket. After scanning both of them, the clerk told her she had won $50,000 on her ticket from the July 16 drawing.

"I am just so grateful and happy," she laughed. 

She shared plans to use some of the winnings to pay off student loans.

“It's a good present for me," she added.

The winning ticket was purchased at Walmart, 201 Highlands Blvd. Drive in Manchester, and matched four of the five white-ball numbers drawn, plus the Powerball. The numbers drawn that night were 3, 18, 23, 32 and 57, and the Powerball number was 21. 

Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is estimated at $270 million. If the jackpot is hit, the “Jackpot Reset” promotion will be activated – giving players who buy three Powerball plays for the next drawing on a single ticket a free $2 Powerball ticket.

Players who purchased tickets in St. Louis County in FY22 won more than $205.1 million in total Missouri Lottery prizes. Retailers in the county received more than $19.5 million in commissions and bonuses, and education programs in the county received more than $39 million in appropriated Lottery proceeds.