With barely a day to spare, a southern Minnesota woman showed up at the state's lottery headquarters in Roseville and claimed her $50,000 prize. Another person in the same situation, however, is out of luck.

Debra Newman of Austin had the good fortune to arrive Thursday to cash in the Powerball ticket, which she bought on Jan. 13, 2016. Its value would have plummeted to $0 if she had arrived after 5 p.m. on Friday the 13th.

Of the 12 $50,000 winning tickets sold in Minnesota for that drawing in the multistate game, one did expire. It was bought in Jackson at the SuperAmerica at 514 3rd St. The unclaimed money goes into the state's general fund.

Newman said that she doesn't play the lottery often and bought the ticket only at the urging of co-workers when the jackpot had reached $1.5 billion a year ago.

Newman said she hadn't claimed the prize earlier because "it was a rough year, and I thought for sure [the deadline to claim] was February. I heard on the news that a ticket purchased in Austin was going to expire and I thought, 'Wait a minute, that's me.' "

The Kwik Trip at 1201 W. Oakland Av. in Austin sold Newman the winning ticket, which matched four of the five numbers drawn plus the Powerball.

PAUL WALSH