ALBUQUERQUE – Udell Vigil, a man from Las Cruces in New Mexico won the sum $200, 000 by playing Powerball.    His quick pick for September 24’s game matched the white ball numbers:  3, 4, 12, 27 and 44, missing the red Powerball number 26 which would have landed him the night’s sought-after jackpot of $30 million. State lottery

Vigil’s reason for buying the New Mexico Lottery is very close to home, he plays the lottery because the profits fund scholarship programs.  Both of his sons have benefited from the Legislative Lottery Scholarships to attend the New Mexico State University. One son has already graduated with a degree in fine arts while the other son is still studying criminal justice. Lottery winning numbers  
 
Vigil,  admits that most of the time he simply buys tickets only to squirrel them away, usually he needs to be reminded various times to check the ticket for prizes. 
“The girl who sold me the ticket offered to check it for me, but I couldn’t remember where I left it,” he said. Lottery checkerOn Sunday evening, his family reminded him of the ticket and helped look everywhere for it.  Finally, the missing ticket was found tucked under a plate on the kitchen table. At the lottery’s website, Vigil discovered with awe that his ticket was worth $200,000.

“It was hard to sleep that night,” he admits.

The lucky winner bought his ticket at Pic Quik No. 72 located at 4675 Sonoma Ranch Boulevard in Las Cruces. The store has sold five other large prize-winning tickets paying between $1,000 and $5,000.

Other recent Las Cruces winners include Ross Schafer who won $30,000 by playing Scratchers,  Mike Caro who won a $10,000 on the Hot Lotto game and Bernarda Perez from Doña Ana won a $30,000 also by playing Scratchers.

Legislative Lottery College Scholarships

Since 1996, the New Mexico Lottery has raised over $493.9 million for education more than 68,000 students.  Providing them with a chance to attend college where in other circumstances it wouldn’t have been possible.  As of the Spring 2010 semester, 7,540 students from Doña Ana County have received $38.5 million in Legislative Lottery Scholarships.

Amongst the most prominent features of this scholarship program is that it offers to pay a hundred percent of the tuition fee for eight consecutive semesters of eligibility beginning with the second semester of college enrollment.  They also count with network of eligible public colleges, junior colleges or universities across New Mexico.