Barnes City Man Strikes It Rich
Michael Lally holding his 2 million dollar check. (submitted photo)
Des Moines, Iowa – Falling just short of winning it all, Barnes City resident probably won’t complain about only winning two million dollars in the Powerball.
Barnes City, a town of only 177 residents, is best known for its figure 8 racing and Hawthorn Lake. But it can now add one more notable, Michael Lally.
Lally was out doing errands Saturday morning and, as normal, bought 5 Powerball tickets with Easy-Picks with PowerPlay. “I was on a different side of town that day, so I stopped at a different store.”
After filling up the tank, he “grabbed the 5 tickets like I normally do and headed home.” It was his mother’s birthday and then helped a friend work on a truck that evening. The drawing had slipped his mind. On Sunday, Lally was once again under the hood of his friends truck, not giving a second thought about the Powerball tickets he had.
“Then I heard on the radio this morning while I was plowing snow that somebody else had won the big one, there was a winning ticket from Oskaloosa. I thought, well maybe it was me. Then I thought – can’t be. I went into a local store there in town [Barnes City] and was joking with the cashier, I know her pretty well. All of a sudden it said, ‘Woo Hoo’ and I thought 25, 50 dollars,” Lally said. “She paused and held the ticket up… and I just started shakin’, and I couldn’t believe it.”
Lally then called his boss and informed him that he needed to go to Des Moines. His boss responded “Why?”. Lally told him, “I need to go to the Iowa Lottery, I think I just won 2 million dollars.”
Lally, who is a single father of a 16 year old boy, said, “His college is now paid for. I don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Lally said smiling. “Obviously I’m going to get a new vehicle, pay some bills and then the rest of it will be invested.”
Lally will have about 1.4 million remaining after Uncle Sam and the state take their cut.
“He wants to borrow some money when I get home,” Lally said jokingly about his son.
His employer Brian Kitzman asked him if he was going to be quitting, and then asked him if he was going to buy the business. Lally said, “No and No,” to both questions.
Lally wanted to thank everyone that was attempting to call and text him after news leaked out about his big win, but he says it was impossible to respond while driving.
