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Forest City’s Sheehans Win $2 Million From Powerball Lottery

A Forest City woman said she spent about a month after winning a $2 million Powerball® prize gathering details and making a plan before she claimed the winnings.

Tamara Sheehan said that she and her husband, Stephen, spent the time “just being very quiet, getting a lot of questions answered, specifically more on the financials and the taxes.”

“It started feeling really real driving up and seeing the Iowa Lottery sign out front,” Tamara Sheehan said Friday as she claimed her prize at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. “Now it’s really real.”

Sheehan’s $2 million prize was among the millions won in Iowa during the Powerball jackpot run that culminated in the Nov. 7 world-record $2.04 billion drawing.

Sheehan, who works in human resources, said that it was fun hearing the buzz around Forest City as she kept quiet and made plans to claim the prize.

“It was a big buzz – a BIG buzz,” she said. “It’s a small town, so it was really something fun for everyone to talk about.”

Sheehan’s $2 million-winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 1132 U.S. Highway 69 S. in Forest City. Her easy-pick ticket came within one number of winning the game’s $403.9 million jackpot in the Oct. 10 drawing.

She initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. But with the Power Play® option added to the purchase, the prize at the Match 5 level was multiplied to $2 million. Sheehan’s ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize in the Oct. 10 drawing.

The winning numbers that night were: 3-6-11-17-22 and Powerball 11. The Power Play number was 2.

Casey’s received a $2,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $2 million-winning ticket.

Sheehan said that she and her husband have plans for the winnings, including paying it forward by helping charities focused on issues near and dear to them.

“We are going to use it to invest and we’ll take a couple trips,” she said. “It just makes everything easier.”

Sheehan’s prize is the sixth of at least $1 million claimed in Iowa in 2022. And another $1 million prize remains unclaimed more than two months after it was won in Ames.

The $1 million unclaimed prize in Ames was won in the Sept. 6 drawing of the Mega Millions® game. It matched the first five numbers but missed the Mega Ball that night to win $1 million. It was purchased at the Gateway Expresse, 2400 University Blvd. in Ames.

Players in $2 Powerball choose their first five numbers from a pool of 69, and another number – called the Powerball – from a separate pool of 26. The Power Play option is available for an extra $1 per play.

Since getting its start in April 1992 in 15 states with jackpots that started at a guaranteed $2 million, Powerball has grown into one of the world’s biggest and most recognizable lottery games. Today Powerball is played by 48 lotteries across the country with drawings at 9:59 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

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