MADISON, Wisc. -- Last week was a "Match 5" kind of week for Richard Romans (Milwaukee), John Kimball (Ironwood, Michigan) and Richard Salzwedel (Sparta). The trio were part of a nationwide, record-breaking drawing that produced 91 million dollar or more winning Powerball tickets for the Wednesday, April 29, 2026, draw. On Thursday, Romans claimed his winning $1 million dollar prize at the Madison office. Kimball and Salzwedel validated their winning $2 million dollar tickets on Friday.
Purchased from a Pick N Save in Milwaukee, Roman’s winning ticket was one of 62 in the United States that matched all five white balls. These winning Match 5 tickets were sold in 17 states, including: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Georga, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Kimball bought his winning ticket from Brite Spot 2 in Hurley while Salzwedel picked up his winning ticket from a BP in Sparta. Both winners were part of a group of 27 winning tickets nationwide that matched all five white balls and, because the players added the Power Play option for $1, increased their $1 million prize to $2 million. These tickets were sold in 12 states, including: Arkansas, Illinois, Hoosier, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Why the big number of wins? Wisconsin Lottery officials think it may be due to how those players selected their numbers on the playslips, which are the paper forms used by some players to select their numbers, game features, and wager amounts for draw games like Powerball. The first five winning numbers, 3-19-35-51-67, are all in the same column of the Powerball playslip, and those players may have thought it was an easy or lucky way to select their numbers.