A Missouri Lottery Powerball player in Jasper County made an unplanned purchase that resulted in plans to head west with a friend.

“I just bought the Lottery ticket by chance,” he confessed. “I was hanging out with my friend after work. Now I have a trip planned with my friend. We’re going to California and Las Vegas!”

He purchased a ticket for the Powerball drawing on Aug. 16, when the jackpot was $565 million. The jackpot has currently grown to $950 million, the sixth-largest in history, for Saturday’s drawing.

“I didn’t even know about the big jackpot amount!” he laughed.

The winning numbers on Aug. 16 were 23, 40, 49, 65 and 69 and the Powerball number was 23. The winning ticket was purchased at Murphy USA, 1224 S. Madison St. in Webb City, matching four of the five white-ball numbers, as well as the Powerball, to win a $50,000 prize.

In FY24, players in Jasper County won more than $15 million in Missouri Lottery prizes, retailers received more than $1.4 million in commissions and bonuses, and more than $3.5 million in Lottery proceeds went to education programs in the county.