LEOPOLD MAN WINS $100,000 IN POWERBALL; PRIZE ARRIVES JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS, SAYS JEFF IRVIN

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- Jeff Irvin of Leopold walked around with $100,000 in his wallet for almost a week and didn't know it.

The money was in the form of a Powerball ticket -- five out of six numbers for the $105 million Nov. 25 drawing.

"I didn't look at the ticket right away," said Irvin, a sales representative for Nu Way Concrete Forms in Jackson, Mo. "I'd heard that nobody won Powerball's big prize."

It wasn't until he stopped at Rover's Gas-A-Mart at Marble Hill, Mo., to purchase tickets for the Nov. 29 drawing that he decided to check his previous week's tickets, bought at the same place.

Irvin had let the computer select the winning combination of 2, 37, 38, 39, and 42. The sixth number on Irvin's ticket was 22.

"I missed the 8 for the $105 million," he said. "I won't forget that number for a while."

Some of the winnings will go into the Irvins' college education fund for two daughters, but Irvin said he had some immediate plans for the money as well.

"We'll use part of it for Christmas, and we're looking at a new car for my wife," he said.

The Irvins, Jeff and his wife, Sheila, will receive a check for $68,000. The Missouri Lottery withholds 32 percent for taxes, said Susan Goedde, of the Missouri Lottery Commission.