Ben Baker defied the odds once. Odds far longer than finding a four-leaf clover (1 in 10,000). Longer a pregnancy resulting in quadruplets (1 in 700,000). And longer than Old Dominion winning the college football national championship — 900 times.
A Covington resident, Baker matched four white balls and the Powerball during the March 4 drawing. By also spending an extra dollar on the Power Play, his $50,000 prize became $150,000. Odds of hitting this feat stand at 1 in 913,129.18.
It would be enough for Baker to have achieved this once through the Virginia Lottery. But it wasn’t. Instead, Baker, who purchased 10 tickets for the drawing, also had a second Powerball ticket also match four white balls and the Powerball, multiplied by the Power Play. The result: $300,000.
Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night.
Two Virginia Lottery tickets set up double-Powerball win
Leading up to the March 4 drawing, Baker entered the Food Lion in his hometown and purchased 10 Powerball tickets. Each contained different numerical variations. He also added the Power Play for an extra dollar.
Settling in for the late-night drawing that Saturday, Baker saw the results: 10-16-18-40-66 with a Powerball of 16. Two tickets matched the Powerball as well as four of the five white balls. Normally a prize of $50,000, those ticket values tripled thanks to the Power Play.
Luck plays a factor to win once in one drawing (overall odds of winning any prize sits at around 1 in 25, according to Powerball). Hitting twice? Well, Baker put it succinctly when he received his check from the Virginia lottery:
“I was really lucky!”
The double-winner said he would use his winnings on home improvement while saving the remainder.
Of note, that March 4 drawing featured an even bigger winner than Baker. An unidentified person purchased a Powerball ticket in Dublin that hit all five white numbers and the Powerball to claim the $162.6 million jackpot for just the second-ever top prize in state history.
Alexandria woman hits jackpot in Virginia online lottery game
Funnily enough, the date of the Lottery’s announcement for Baker’s winnings wasn’t even the only $300,000 event in the state.
Kristeen Maddox, wasting some time in her car in a parking lot, decided to play some Virginia online lottery games. Specifically, she turned to The Lamp, which features a progressive, growing jackpot as players attempt to match three or more clusters of the same symbol.
Then, as the Alexandria woman said, she realized something life-changing: Maddox hit a $293,508 jackpot.
“There’s no way! Is this real?” Maddox recalled. Understandably, she told Virginia Lottery officials, “I am mind-blown!”
All lottery profits go toward K-12 education in Virginia. For perspective, Covington, home of Ben Baker, received more than $928,000 in lottery funds last fiscal year, while Alexandria received over $4.7 million. The Virginia Lottery raised more than $779 million for education, representing about 10% of the total K-12 school budget.
