Wood River Man Wins $250,000 Playing Nebraska Pick 5

Ryan Voss

Ryan Voss of Wood River won $250,000 playing Nebraska Pick 5 from the Nebraska Lottery.

Voss purchased his ticket at Pump & Pantry #52 at 3210 Old Potash Hwy. in Grand Island. The ticket contained one quick pick play for the September 6 drawing which matched the winning numbers 08, 14, 26, 35 and 38.

September seems to be a lucky month for Voss, seeing as he won $5,000 on Lucky for Life in September of 2022 and a $2,022 second chance drawing prize in September of 2021.

That’s not to say every other month hasn’t been as fortunate for Voss.

“I hit $500 the first day the game change,” Voss said, referring to the August 13 addition of Pick 5 enhancements that raised the second prize by $50. “Before that I won $450 about 75 times.”

Voss is a daily player and sometimes picks his own numbers and sometimes picks his own, it just depends on his mood, he said.

Voss said he’s planning on buying himself a new pickup truck with his winnings, but there’s one thing he’s not going to be changing.

“My nickname at the store is 450,” he said. “Some people asked me if I wanted to be 500 now, but 450 is fine with me.”

Nebraska Pick 5 is Nebraska’s unique Lottery game: all the proceeds from Nebraska Pick 5 stay in Nebraska, and all the winning tickets are sold in Nebraska at Nebraska Lottery Lotto game retailers. The odds of winning the Nebraska Pick 5 jackpot, which starts at $50,000 and grows by $10,000 each drawing that is not won, are 1 in 658,008 while the overall odds of winning a prize in the game, which has drawings seven nights a week, are 1 in 9.2.


Published on 09/07/2023