Rochester Hills man follows gut feeling to buy Powerball ticket, wins $150,000

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - On May 14, Mohamed Salem couldn't shake a nagging feeling that he needed to spend a few bucks on a Powerball ticket. With just a few minutes to spare, he finally listened to his gut - and made himself $150,000 richer.

Salem, 50, matched four white balls and the Powerball on May 14 – 06-40-41-45-52 PB:9 – which would have netted him $50,000. But he bought the Power Play too, which tripled his winnings to $150,000.

Salem bought his lucky ticket on MichiganLottery.com and told the lottery that he just had a feeling that he needed to play.

"I just kept getting this feeling in my gut that I should buy a Powerball ticket," said Salem. "I had the feeling a couple of times throughout the day and then again just before the drawing. I logged into my Lottery account on my phone and bought a ticket about five minutes before sales ended for the drawing that night," he said.

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After buying his ticket, the Rochester Hills man said he went about his life as normal. That is, until he went through his emails.

"A few days later, I was going through some old emails and saw one from the Lottery that said I needed to log in to claim a prize. When I logged in to my account and saw I had won a $150,000 prize, I was stunned," he said.

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Salem claimed his prize in Lansing this week and said he plans to invest the winnings.

The current jackpot - matching all five white balls and the Powerball is $210 million.

Powerball plays cost $2 and the Power Play option is $1 more. You can add up to ten multiples to increase your winnings.

Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday night just before 11 p.m.