Cheryl Jones wins $15,000
Photo courtesy Kansas Lottery
Cheryl Jones had no idea that what was lying underneath her bills could definitely help pay a lot of bills! The 49-year-old Atchison woman had purchased a Mega Millions ticket for the January 6 drawing. When she saw that no one had hit the $206 million jackpot, she put the ticket aside without checking to see if she’d won another prize.
“I figured I would deal with it later,” Jones disclosed.
It wasn’t until last week that Jones remembered the ticket, had her daughter check it, and received a pleasant surprise! Jones had matched four of the first five numbers, plus the Megaball, in the January 6 drawing. She would have won $5,000, but because she had also purchased the Megaplier option, she tripled her prize to $15,000. The Megaplier number for the drawing was 3. Megaplier costs an extra $1 per play and multiplies all prizes won, except for the jackpot.
“I always play Quick Pick and I always get the Megaplier,” said a very happy Jones. “I figure an extra dollar won’t hurt and it might help, a lot!”
Cheryl Jones is a school lunch lady at USD 409 in Atchison and also cooks for Genesis Healthcare in Highland. Jones and her husband Henry told Lottery officials they would use the prize money to pay off all their bills and remodel their bathroom.
“This is a real Godsend for us right now,” Henry Jones said. “Our bathroom really needs repairs, and we couldn’t have done them any other way.”
The lucky $15,000 Mega Millions ticket was purchased at Lutz Brothers Oil, located at 405 Utah Avenue in Atchison.