CLIVE, Iowa — A Webster City woman admits she often waits weeks before she checks the results of her lottery tickets. But last month, a message from a friend made her change her ways – and she quickly realized she’d won big. Lynne Kannuan said she was having a normal day at work on a Tuesday when she got a message online from her friend in Arkansas, who had just seen on Facebook that someone in Webster City won $1 million in the Powerball® drawing the night before.
“I hadn’t checked my ticket. I had it in my purse,” she said. “I don’t usually check my tickets until maybe two or three weeks later. I wouldn’t have checked it if she hadn’t told me. She goes, ‘Go check your ticket, it might be you!’”
As it turns out, Kannuan did win a $1 million prize in the Powerball drawing on Aug. 5. She claimed her prize Wednesday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive through the Lynne Kannuan Living Trust.
Kannuan, 53, who works in healthcare, said that after her friend contacted her, she logged onto the Iowa Lottery’s website and compared the winning numbers from the previous night’s Powerball drawing with the numbers on her ticket. Her friend was right: She had matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize.
“I had to check the numbers twice to make sure,” she said. “And then I got up slowly and walked straight to my boss’s office. And I said, ‘Um ...’ And she goes, ‘What? What’s going on, Lynne?’ So I sat down and I said, ‘I think I won the $1 million!’”
Her boss also looked up the winning numbers and agreed.
Kannuan said she immediately told her husband, Pat, and their adult sons, and then the couple stayed quiet for about six weeks while they consulted a lawyer and financial planner. She said they plan to pay off bills, invest and share some with family. And Lynne said she’ll get a newer car. The couple, who both immigrated as children to the United States from Laos, talked about how far they have come, literally and figuratively. But they plan to just go about their normal days. Lynne Kannuan described her winnings as the perfect amount: “Not too much, not too little, just right.”
Kannuan bought her winning ticket at Fareway, 942 Second St. in Webster City, while stopping for groceries on her way home from work. She said she realized she had a scratch ticket in her purse that had won $5, so she used a portion of that prize to buy a Powerball ticket. And her next win was much larger.
The winning numbers in the Aug. 5 Powerball drawing were: 29-42-44-51-54 and Powerball 12. The Power Play® number was 2. Kannuan’s ticket was the only one in the country to win a $1 million prize that night.