St. Thomas grad hits the jackpot
A 1983 University of St. Thomas graduate who majored in accounting suddenly has a lot more money to keep track of.
Michael Hawes of Lakeville discovered earlier this week that for more than a month he had been carrying in his wallet a $47 million Powerball jackpot lottery ticket.
He purchased the ticket Nov. 1 at Cub Foods in Bloomington. He stopped at the store Monday to buy a new ticket and have his old one checked with a scanner at the service desk. That’s when he learned he was millionaire 47 times over.
Hawes, who has worked as an accountant for many years at Groth Music in Bloomington, has until early February to decide if he’d like to take the $47 million annuity option and receive graduated payments over the next 29 years or the $22.1 million cash option ($15 million after taxes).
Hawes is 46 and has a fiancee, Sarah, and two sons, Hunter, 18, and Lucky, 8 months.