Gregg Wins $800,000 in Powerball
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 – The chairman of the United States Senate Budget Committee came into some discretionary spending money of his own Thursday morning.
Senator Judd Gregg (R – N.H.) was one of 47 players of the Powerball lottery to match five of the numbers without the Powerball and win $853,492. He collected and deposited his money Thursday, but has still not decided what he will be doing with his winnings.
“I’ve always considered myself to be one of the luckiest people in the country just to be able to represent New Hampshire and now this has just sort of been confirmed,” Gregg said in a conference call on Thursday.
Gregg, who said he purchased $20 worth of Powerball tickets when he was buying gas in Washington, D.C., on Monday, was just short of winning the entire jackpot. His Powerball number was 25 and the winner was 29. He let the machine choose the numbers and actually almost left one of his tickets at the gas station, but was aided by a woman working in the station.
“I was rushing around because I wanted to get down to the Capitol and she threw me the tickets and I started to walk out and she said, ‘You forgot one of your tickets,’ ” Gregg recalled. “I’d only taken three of the tickets. She was very nice. She could have kept the ticket herself and for all I know that was the winning number.”
Gregg, who discovered his winning numbers as he was reading the paper Thursday morning, says he plans to give some of the money to the Hugh Gregg Foundation, a charitable foundation established by his father. The foundation has given money to a variety of charities in New Hampshire including the Humane Society and Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center.
He and his wife are still deciding what to do with the remaining money. Thursday, in celebration of his win, he purchased lottery tickets for each member of his main staff.
“I guess that means I’m good with numbers,” Gregg said. “Everybody in America believes in good fortune and a little luck and I’m no different than everybody else.”
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