SOMERSWORTH — Although the big Powerball winner was in Merrimack, one should never be too quick to toss a ticket aside without checking.
According to Maura McCann, director of marketing at New Hampshire Lottery, dozens of people win $50,000 in New Hampshire each year, playing Powerball.
The big prize requires getting all five numbers and the Powerball. The next level is all five numbers without the Powerball — that earns you a cool million; but if you get four numbers and the Powerball, you get $50,000. Just since July, there have been 14 winners, including a few locals.
On Dec. 23, one lucky shopper at the Market Basket in Somersworth hit the mark. According to McCann, he collected his prize on Dec. 27.
Some of the other lucky locations include Anything to Go in Portsmouth, and Seven Lakes Provision in Wakefield.
That $50,000 Powerball winning ticket, sold by the Market Basket in Somersworth was claimed by a Dover resident.
According to McCann, on a $50,000 prize, federal law requires the lottery to withhold 25 percent for federal taxes so he left their office with a prize check in the amount of $37,500.
If you think you may have over looked a winner, there still may be time.
"With the draw games of Powerball, Megabucks and the like, players have one year from the drawing date on their ticket to present it for prize claim," McCann said. "It is rare that a large winning ticket goes unclaimed but it does happen, infrequently. Mostly the unclaimed prizes are made up of the $2, $5 and $10 wins over the course of a year."