Neil Watson
Lincoln, NE – Ryan Voss of Wood River won $250,000 playing Nebraska Pick 5 from the Nebraska Lottery.
Voss purchased his ticket at Pump & Pantry #52 at 3210 Old Potash Hwy. in Grand Island. The ticket contained one quick pick play for the September 6 drawing which matched the winning numbers 08, 14, 26, 35 and 38.
September seems to be a lucky month for Voss, seeing as he won $5,000 on Lucky for Life in September of 2022 and a $2,022 second chance drawing prize in September of 2021.
That’s not to say every other month hasn’t been as fortunate for Voss.
“I hit $500 the first day the game changed,” Voss said, referring to the August 13 addition of Pick 5 enhancements that raised the second prize by $50. “Before that I won $450 about 75 times.”
Voss is a daily player and sometimes picks his own numbers and sometimes goes with a quick pick, it just depends on his mood, he said.
Voss said he’s planning on buying himself a new pickup truck with his winnings, but there’s one thing he’s not going to be changing.
“My nickname at the store is 450,” he said. “Some people asked me if I wanted to be 500 now, but 450 is fine with me.”
Nebraska Pick 5 is Nebraska’s unique Lottery game: all the proceeds from Nebraska Pick 5 stay in Nebraska, and all the winning tickets are sold in Nebraska at Nebraska Lottery Lotto game retailers. The odds of winning the Nebraska Pick 5 jackpot, which starts at $50,000 and grows by $10,000 each drawing that is not won, are 1 in 658,008 while the overall odds of winning a prize in the game, which has drawings seven nights a week, are 1 in 9.2.
The mission of the Nebraska Lottery is to generate proceeds for good causes while providing quality entertainment options to Nebraskans. Over $936 million has been raised for the Nebraska Lottery’s beneficiary funds since the Lottery began in 1993. All 93 counties in Nebraska have benefited from projects funded with these Nebraska Lottery proceeds.