North Carolina student turns $3 Powerball ticket into $2M prize after gas pump receipt glitch
Bram Dunehew, an engineering student, matched five numbers in the Halloween Powerball draw and doubled his $1M prize with Power Play. He took a lump sum of $1,440,201.
GamblingSource: GamblingNews
A college engineering student in North Carolina has won a $2 million Powerball prize after a faulty gas pump led him to buy a lottery ticket he had not planned to purchase.
The winner, Bram Dunehew, was at Sam's Mart on NC 49 in Harrisburg, near Concord, when the pump failed to print a receipt outside. He went into the store to ask for help, and while the problem was being sorted out, he picked up a $3 Powerball ticket for the Saturday Halloween drawing.
The ticket matched all five white-ball numbers, which carries a $1,000,000 prize. Because he had added the Power Play option, the payout was doubled to $2,000,000.
Dunehew said he would not have bought the ticket if the receipt had printed at the pump. He described the result as "absolutely preposterous" and said he fell over when he saw it. He also joked that Halloween had become his favorite holiday.
He went to the lottery's headquarters on Monday, November 2, to claim the prize. He chose the lump-sum option rather than annuity-style payments, which comes to $1,440,201 before any further adjustments. The source does not state how taxes apply to that figure.
As for his first purchase with the money, Dunehew said he plans to buy his father a Cadillac.
Based on reporting by GamblingNews.