LANSING – A Lansing woman took home $150,000 from playing the Powerball on Saturday.
Billie Lantis, 61, matched four white balls and the Powerball in last weekend's drawing. Normally, that would only cash out $50,000, but she decided to play the Powerplay option, multiplying her winnings by three.
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Lantis purchased the winning ticket at East Paris Discount Liquor -- 2871 East Paris Southeast in Kentwood.
"Every night there is a Powerball drawing -- I wake up at 11:05 p.m. to check my tickets," Lantis said. "I don't set an alarm, I just wake up like clockwork every time.
"When I woke up Saturday, I asked my husband to look over the ticket. When he told me we'd matched four numbers plus the Powerball, I was so excited. We spent the rest of the night planning how to spend the money."
Lantis and her husband drive to East Paris Discount Liquor each month to purchase a month's supply of Powerball tickets.
"I heard about a big winner that was bought at the East Paris Discount Liquor store, so I told my husband we ought to start buying tickets there," she said. "Each month we take a day trip over to grab dinner and buy our tickets. I don't think either of us expected to keep going there year after year but the owners are so nice and it really paid off for us."
With the winning money, Lantis plans to complete home renovations she began, take a vacation and save the rest.
"It feels great to win. It takes away from the stress of our home renovation project," she said.