Courtesy Photo/Image Scott Leatherman

Scott Leatherman of Wallace won $1 million in late June in the Powerball lottery. Lady Luck struck again a couple of weeks later when he won $20,000 more.

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Leatherman is a regular Powerball player. Twice a week, he buys three quick pick tickets with three plays, either from Ozzie’s I-80 in Sutherland or the Kwik Stop in North Platte at Dewey and Leota.

A winning ticket June 10 netted him $1 million before taxes. He kept right on playing. On July 4, he bought a ticket at Ozzie’s that matched four of the five winning white ball numbers and the Powerball number for $10,000.

And Leatherman always adds the Power Play, multiplying his winnings by two, so this time he got 20 grand.

He said he was too busy to even check his tickets until July 14.

“I set down and told my dad and my brother it was time to see if I had won again. They laughed,” he said. “I laughed. But, the last ticket I looked at was the winner. I was ecstatic.”

Leatherman lives in Wallace with his 81-year-old father and his brother Steve. His dad is in generally good health, if not giddy over his son’s good fortune.

“This has put some extra life in his step,” Scott said.

When the family debts are paid, Leatherman plans to buy a house in Wallace to fix up and move into, then fix up the house his dad currently lives in.

And keep playing the lottery.

“I always play,” he said. “I’ve missed a couple times, but hardly ever. I’d like to win the big one.”

He spends $36 a week for lottery tickets, buying them each Saturday and Wednesday.

Leatherman has defied hefty odds so far. Winning that first big Powerball prize was a one in 5,138,133 chance. The odds of winning the second time were one in 723,145, according to Nebraska Lottery officials.

He said he feels that his mother, who died a year ago, is looking after her family.

“I feel inside this is from Mom,” he said. “She has always been there for us. She always kept us doing right, even if I strayed a little a couple times.”

Leatherman said that people sometimes ask to touch him or rub him for luck.

“I just tell them no,” he said.