CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Ritchie County resident Katie Ivers took home a check for $685,000 from the West Virginia Lottery Monday afternoon after winning $1 million in Saturday’s Powerball drawing.
Ivers, a resident of Pullman, was one of only two Powerball players in the nation to have a $1 million ticket Saturday. The other was purchased in California.
Ivers told reporters at a Monday afternoon news conference she usually allows the machine to choose her numbers but decided this time to use numbers from her atomic clock to do it. She said the clock recently malfunctioned and she wrote down the numbers.
“A month went by and I decided, OK, I was going to play the numbers—and here I am, a big winner,” she said.
A West Virginia resident for two decades, Ivers said she’ll use the money for a vacation, to pay bills and to “take care of things.” She has a daughter and a grandson along with some other family in Ritchie County and some family in Maryland.
“I’m going to have a big party one of these days,” she joked.
Ivers becomes the sixth million-dollar winner in either Powerball or MegaMillions so far this year in West Virginia. In all of 2013, there were five $1 million winners in the state.
The winning ticket was purchased at the Route 16 Fuel Center in Ellenboro.