#powerball Coralville Man Claims $1 Million Powerball Prize

January 4th, 2017

A Coralville man admits he's always fantasized about what it would be like to win the lottery - and now he knows. Jeff Tomlinson Jr. claimed a $1 million Powerball prize on Friday.

"I didn't really consider it a possibility, it was more of a fantasy of what would I do if I won," Tomlinson said as he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. "But I want to make sure that my family is well taken care of - now, in the future. Even my daughter, I want to make sure that she's good for college and the future."

Tomlinson, 32, an electronics technician at Rockwell Collins in Coralville who also attends Kirkwood Community College while working towards an engineering degree, said he regularly stops at Kum & Go in North Liberty where he bought his winning ticket because it is near where he lives and takes his 3-year-old daughter to daycare.

He found out he'd won big when he stopped at the store Friday morning and they told him to check his tickets because someone had bought a ticket there that won a $1 million prize. He went out to his car and looked up the winning numbers from Wednesday's Powerball drawing on his mobile phone, then took his ticket right back into the store.

"As soon as I signed it, they scanned it," he said. "We all took pictures of my ticket with the receipt and all that. Everybody was excited. I was tearing up and shaking in the middle of the store. I just could not believe it."

Tomlinson said he decided to claim the prize right away because he didn't want to chance something happening to his winning ticket. He called work and took a vacation day and called his wife, Jolene, who was already at her job.

"I think she's still in shock about the whole thing," he said. "She asked me repeatedly, 'Are you kidding?'"

Tomlinson bought his winning ticket at Kum & Go, 610 N. Kansas Ave. in North Liberty. He came within one number of having at least a share of Wednesday's $80 million jackpot. His ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. It was the only ticket in the country that won a $1 million prize Wednesday.

 

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