New Jersey Powerball winners score $2M in Hillsborough near-miss

A few weeks ago, I went on a little rant about my lottery ticket-buying strategy — specifically for Mega Millions and Powerball.

The plan? Skip the big, busy spots and snag your tickets at smaller convenience stores, liquor stores, delis, or gas stations.

Why New Jersey’s small stores keep producing big lottery wins

Well, Somerset County just backed me up again this past weekend.

And talk about “so close you can smell it.” In Saturday’s drawing, a ticket sold at Quick Stop Food Stores on Branch Road in Hillsborough matched all five white balls and had the 2× multiplier… but whiffed the red Powerball by a single number. Still, that near-miss was worth a cool $2 million. (I’d be triple-checking those numbers until sunrise.)

Meanwhile, down in Camden and up in Union counties, three more players got within a whisker of the jackpot. Each matched four white balls plus the Powerball, walking away with $50,000. Their golden tickets came from:

Wegman’s in Cherry Hill (okay, not totally on-brand with my strategy)
Yogi’s Quick Ship in Blackwood (we love a solid name)
Village Liquors in Union

So yeah — a lot of dreams got a major glow-up Saturday night, even if no one went full jackpot hero.

Biggest New Jersey Powerball wins of 2025

If you need proof that luck has been lurking all year, here are some of the Garden State’s biggest wins so far in 2025:

$1 million — In the massive Sept. 6 drawing when the jackpot hit $1.787 billion, a Camden County player snagged a million, and more than 50 other New Jersey players grabbed at least $50,000.
$1 million — On Aug. 31, two NJ players matched all five white balls for seven-figure wins. A Clifton player also turned a near-miss into $150,000 thanks to the Power Play multiplier.
$100,000 — In August, players in Warren and Bergen counties grabbed six-figure wins by matching four white balls plus the Powerball with the 2× multiplier.
$50,000 — Plenty of players across NJ have hit this tier throughout the year, including one in Burlington County during the March 29 draw.

So even though New Jersey hasn’t landed a jackpot yet, 2025 has been handing out plenty of oversized checks.

Why New Jersey can’t stop obsessing over lottery luck

Why it matters — and why we love this stuff...
Here’s the real magic of playing: you don’t have to hit the jackpot to change your life. That $2 million win? That’s a whole new chapter. Those $50K, $100K, and $1M prizes? That’s home repairs, college tuition, a new business start, or a blissful “I’m taking a break from work, thanks.”

And for the rest of us? We get to dream right along with them. The what-ifs stay alive, the hope stays fun, and sometimes life feels a little more exciting simply because someone in Cherry Hill or Hillsborough got lucky.

And who knows — next time, it might just be your turn to make the rest of us dream vicariously.