Duluth Man Wins $1M Playing Powerball

ROSEVILLE – Todd Solarz of Duluth and Joseph McGlynn of Burnsville have a lot in common.

They each won a $1 million Powerball prize in the June 7 drawing—and they both arrived at Lottery headquarters in Roseville this morning to claim their prizes.

Solarz almost tossed his ticket away before discovering his big win, saying, "I always check the Powerball number first and it didn't match so I didn't think it was a winner, but then all the other numbers started matching up."

After texting pictures of the ticket to friends and family for confirmation, it didn't take long for Solarz to realize his ticket was worth $1 million. "I would have never imagined this happening," he said.

Solarz purchased his winning ticket at Holiday Stationstores Inc., located at 9314 W. Skyline Parkway in Proctor.

"I sat on $1 million for days," said one of Burnsville's luckiest residents, Joe McGlynn, referring to the $1 million winning Powerball ticket that he had unknowingly carried in his wallet.

McGlynn purchased his winning ticket at Cub Foods, located at 300 E. Travelers Trail in Burnsville, on June 7.

He put the ticket in his wallet and didn't discover that it was worth $1 million until June 11. "I didn't sleep last night," he said as he claimed the prize.

The $1 million winning ticket had a close call with a washing machine, but luck was still on his side. "I put my pants in the washing machine and saw my wallet at the last second and got it out of there," he recalled.

Solarz and McGlynn won the $1 million prizes by matching the first five numbers drawn on June 7, which were 28-30-35-58-59; the Powerball number was 15.