News : One number from millions: Norway's Don Volz wins $10,000 in Powerball

DES MOINES– A Benton County man said he knew he had won a big lottery prize after reading the Powerball numbers in a local newspaper.

“This morning when I was looking at the numbers in the paper and looking at my ticket and every number was coming up and I thought, ‘Oh boy! We’re on a roll here,’” Don Volz of Norway said.

Volz, 65, matched four white balls and the Powerball in the Nov. 20 drawing to win a $10,000 lottery prize. He claimed his prize Thursday at the Iowa Lottery’s regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Volz said his wife, Christa, was looking over his shoulder while he was checking his ticket.

“I told the wife, ‘You know what, I missed the whole thing by one number,’” he said.

The winning numbers in the $40 million Powerball jackpot drawing on Nov. 20 were 4-18-23-32-45 and Powerball 7. The jackpot has grown to $60 million for Wednesday’s drawing.

Volz purchased his winning ticket at the same retailer where he buys most of his tickets - D J C-Store, 117 E. Railroad St. in Norway. Volz said the staff was “very excited” when he told them he had won a $10,000 prize.

“I always give them heck down there,” he said. “I say, ‘Why don’t you ever sell me a winning ticket?’”

Volz, who recently retired after nearly 45 years with South Slope Telephone, said he plans to share some of his winnings with his children and grandchildren.

“Heck, if I could have won it all I could have set the grandkids up for college and everything,” he said.

Another $10,000-winning ticket sold in Iowa for the Nov. 20 drawing has yet to be claimed. That ticket was purchased at Hy-Vee, 1111 Eighth St. in Boone.

Winning numbers may be checked at the lottery website at www.ialottery.com or through the winning numbers hot line at (515) 323-4633. Winning numbers may also be checked with lottery retail outlets or by calling the lottery at (515) 725-7900 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Players may visit the Iowa Lottery at 2323 Grand Ave. in Des Moines or go to one of the lottery’s regional offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Mason City or Cedar Rapids to claim prizes.

Since the lottery’s start in 1985, its players have won more than $3.1 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.5 billion for the state programs that benefit all Iowans.

Today, lottery proceeds in Iowa have three main purposes: They provide support for veterans, help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund, and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions in the state and build and repair schools.