Burnsville couple are $228,900,000 richer

When Tom and Kathleen Morris of Burnsville met with their financial adviser Monday, they hoped they'd hear Tom could retire. But no such luck.

"I said, 'Tom, The only way we're going to retire is if we win the lottery,'" Kathleen Morris said.

Well, guess what?

The couple won a Powerball jackpot worth up to $228.9 million, state lottery officials announced Friday. They beat 195.2 million-to-1 odds in Wednesday's drawing with a combination of numbers that Tom, a sales engineer, bought at a Lakeville SuperAmerica that day. He intends to retire Monday.

"It's a great feeling," said Tom Morris, 61. "We're going to have fun."

"We'll live the way we live -- just a little higher," said Kathleen Morris, also 61.

It was the largest jackpot ever won in Minnesota in the recurring numbers game that is played in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. There can be more than one jackpot-winning ticket, but the Morrises were the only winners in the latest round. The jackpot has reverted to its floor of $20 million for Saturday's drawing and will continue to grow until there is another winning match.

The couple has 60 days in which to decide whether to take the money in 30 annual installments or a lump-sum payment worth about $123.6 million ($83.7 million after tax withholding).

Kathleen Morris indicated she was leaning toward the annuity payments.

"I like spreading my fun out," she said.

Tom Morris bought the ticket at the SuperAmerica at 162nd Street W. and Cedar Avenue on his way out of town on business, letting the machine pick random numbers. He normally buys three $1 tickets, but he bought five Wednesday "because I didn't have $3 in my pocket," he said. "I only had a $5 bill."

The fourth set of numbers was the winner.

While watching the TV news Thursday, the couple heard a winning ticket had been sold in Dakota County, and Kathleen Morris said it was a shame they hadn't bought one. The first surprise was when Tom produced five tickets. The second was when all six numbers on one of them matched those in the drawing.

"I still don't believe it," he said. His wife put the ticket in a sealed plastic bag until they could bring it to state lottery headquarters for confirmation. She said she slept less than three hours Thursday night.

It wasn't their only lucky break in recent days; they became grandparents for the first time last week.

"I'm excited for my family, really," Tom Morris said, adding that he also wants to help out his 86-year-old mother.

The payout will be Powerball's largest since a $261 million jackpot in Ohio in June 2010. That winner took the lump-sum cash option of $134.9 million.

This is Minnesota's 21st Powerball jackpot winner since the game began in 1992. The state also has had six jackpot winners of LottoAmerica, Powerball's predecessor.

The largest Powerball payout in Minnesota until this one came in May 2008, when Paul and Sue Rosenau of Waseca hit it for $180.1 million. The Rosenaus took the pretax lump sum of $88 million.

bill.mcauliffe@startribune.com • 612-673-7646 jpowell@startribune.com • 952-882-9017. Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.