It pays to play.
It’s an adage Mike Asplund of Fort Frances certainly would agree with after winning $100,000 (U.S.) in the Minnesota Powerball lottery last Wednesday.
Asplund, owner of Sparky’s Confectionary on Second Street East, found out about his windfall Thursday while sitting in the bar at the Holiday Inn in International Falls.
He was on a plane the next day to Minneapolis to collect his winnings.
With state and federal taxes taken off the top, Asplund came home $62,000 (U.S.) the richer. Using Monday’s exchange rate from the CIBC, that’s more than $90,400 (Cdn.)
Asplund’s winning number combination, which he’d been playing for a long time, included his wife Barb’s month and date of birth, his own, plus his age.
“I had five of the five numbers but I missed out on the powerball [number],” he said earlier this week from his store. “If I’d have gotten the powerball number, too, I’d have won $40 million.”
Asplund’s good fortune was his second such windfall–having won $5,000 (U.S.) on powerball a few years ago.
As of Monday, Asplund had no specific plans for the money.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
