Detroit Woman Wins $150K Playing Late Mother's Lottery Numbers

DETROIT — A Detroit woman was left speechless after she won a $150,000 Powerball prize playing the same numbers her late mother used to play.

Cheryl Williams, 63, matched four white balls and the Powerball in the March 30 drawing, the Michigan Lottery said Monday. She played the numbers: 3, 7, 21, 31, 37, and the Powerball, 11.

Williams won a $50,000 prize, which tripled thanks to the Power Play. She bought her winning ticket at a Sunoco gas station on the 3000 block of East 8 Mile Road.

“My mother played these two sets of numbers for years, so I decided to continue playing them after she passed,” Williams told the Lottery. “My son checked the ticket for me after the drawing that night and woke me up to tell me the good news when he saw I’d won. We were both speechless!”

Williams recently claimed her prize at lottery headquarters. She plans to take a vacation and pay bills.

The Powerball jackpot, last won Feb. 14, stands at $348 million.

Powerball plays can be bought for $2 each at lottery retailers across the state and online at MichiganLottery.com. A “Power Play” option that multiplies non-jackpot prizes by up to 10 times to a maximum of $2 million may be added to any Powerball play for $1. For an additional $1 per play, Double Play may be added to a Powerball ticket, giving players a second chance to win up to $10 million in the nightly Double Play drawing.

The Powerball drawing takes place at 10:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico