How Neal Wanless turned a Powerball win into a thriving agribusiness

By Corinne Gaffner Garcia

After the shock of winning a multimillion-dollar Powerball jackpot wears off, one of the first things these lucky folks typically do is quit their job — no two-weeks notice needed. However, South Dakota cowboy Neal Wanless did the exact opposite. After winning a $232 million Powerball jackpot in 2009, the 23-year-old bought the Bismarck Trail Ranch about 50 miles north of Rapid City outside the small town of Vale and quickly got to work building a well-rounded and lucrative cattle and farming operation.

In December 2022, Wanless’ hard work paid off, resulting in one of the most significant land sales in South Dakota history — in both price and acreage — when the Bismarck Trail Ranch closed for $37 million, more than double the price he paid for it in 2009, according to the broker. (The exact price Wanless paid for the initial and subsequent purchases is not available.)

Wanless has lived a true rags-to-riches story. Before the windfall, he was living and working on his family’s ranch in Mission, South Dakota, when his parents fell behind on their taxes and had their home repossessed. This forced them all, including his brother, to move into the cramped quarters of a camper. On a routine trip to buy livestock feed in the nearby town of Winner (no joke), Wanless fatefully splurged on $15 worth of Powerball tickets, making what once seemed like a far-fetched dream come true.

Building and Land Improvements

With his cowboy heritage and sensibilities, it’s no surprise Wanless was drawn to the Bismarck Trail Ranch. Named in honor of the route pioneers took on their way to Deadwood during the Black Hills Gold Rush, the diverse landscape offered plenty of water, wide-open meadows for grazing, and the basic infrastructure for a cattle operation.

“It’s beautiful in different ways,” says Robb Nelson, the listing broker with Hall and Hall. “There are rolling hills, draws, and the Belle Fourche River runs through it. You can see the Black Hills and Bear Butte, an important landmark where the Plains Native American tribes would meet. To the east, it’s wide open ranchlands.”

During the 13 years he owned the Bismarck Trail Ranch, Wanless poured his heart and soul into the property, along with a significant amount of money. “It was an investment decision to build it out, and he put it together over a number of years,” Nelson says. “He eventually acquired five different parcels, building it from a 5,000-acre ranch to nearly 50,000 acres.”

Today, the Bismarck Trail Ranch consists of 41,822 deeded and 5,961 leased acres in two distinct sections split by a parcel of land owned by a neighboring ranch. The west side sits closest to the Black Hills with the Belle Fourche River running through it and could be considered the operational hub, with a barn, grain bins, pivot sprinklers, a ranch manager’s home and bunkhouse, a Morton-built main shop, numerous large-capacity diesel tanks, and other outbuildings.

The east side — made up of wide-open ranchland — is the area Wanless focused on for the majority of improvements. In 2010, two custom houses were some of his first additions. The 6,400-square-foot, five-bedroom, five-bathroom main home features stunning views along with a gaming area, bar, media room, and four-car garage. The second residence is a 5,200-square-foot five-bedroom, four-bathroom house that became home for the Wanless family. Both were designed with Western-themed decor and high-end finishes.

Diversifying Income Streams

When Wanless acquired it, the Bismarck Trail Ranch was being run as a cattle operation — although a somewhat meager one. Over time, his improvements to the infrastructure, water sources, and grasslands, along with land purchases, allowed him to develop additional income streams. “There were several facets he developed,” Nelson says. “One was the horse facilities, and the second was the ag. He developed 900 acres for farming, bought new pivots, and put in new grain elevators and a scale. He set it up to be as income-producing as possible.”

Initially, Wanless ran the farming and a cow-calf operation himself, leasing out additional grazing to a family that wanted to run yearlings. Then about six years ago, he decided he wanted to travel more, so he leased the land and cattle to tenants who ran their own cow-calf operation. “The owners would come in to evaluate it, but Wanless hired a ranch manager and ranch hand to oversee the day-to-day,” Nelson says.

Wanless and his wife were passionate about raising performance horses. With this in mind, he added a large barn with four stalls, a tack room, and vet facilities; an indoor arena with an attached stall barn, steer alley, and a roping box and chute; and an outdoor arena with another roping setup and steer alley. He also built a calving barn, sheep barn, solar-powered shop, and numerous other outbuildings.

Wanless developed another highly profitable and relatively uncommon income stream through a contract with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to pasture a thousand wild horses on the ranch. “The BLM captures wild horses and looks for private landowners to keep them — ranchers to run them as they do cattle, feed them if the snow’s too deep, and things like that,” Nelson says. “It’s a very lucrative program.”

The agency’s priorities are twofold: to maintain healthy wild animals and also enhance the health and productive capacity of the rangelands they graze. “The program is not very common,” Nelson says. “I’ve heard of ranchers working with them, but it’s still very rare. As I understand it, it’s not an easy program; it requires very good strong fencing.”

As any rancher knows, livestock fencing is an integral part of the business, one that’s not only expensive but also needs continual monitoring and mending. Therefore, another significant investment was the new fencing Wanless installed shortly after buying the ranch, and it’s what helped him score the BLM contract in 2016.

A Record Ranch Sale

In 2020, at his family ranch in Colorado, Nelson caught wind of Wanless’ desire to sell. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Wanless was selling because he and his wife planned to spend more time at her family’s cattle ranch in Canada and wintering in Arizona.

The fact that Nelson was a rancher and also a broker with Hall and Hall made him a good fit to manage the sale. However, the clincher was that his great-great-grandfather, Andrew Rosander, founded the town of Vale as one of the first homesteaders in 1883. Along with ranching and farming, Rosander ran the post office and general store. “As part of a fifth-generation South Dakota ranching family, I was very familiar with the territory,” Nelson says.

Vale was once home to several thousand people, but, like many small towns around the country, it has essentially dried up. “Vale is an example of how rural America has changed because of the modernization of farming and the big-box stores, and the younger generations moving to cities,” says Nelson.

The ranching and ag industry in South Dakota is thriving. “It’s a booming market and an extremely ag-friendly state,” says Nelson. “Ranchers feel like they can get more acreage for the dollar compared to Colorado or Montana, where resorts impact land values. It’s also tremendous land with great soil for growing crops and grass for feeding.”

Once Wanless settled on Nelson and Hall and Hall, it took about 18 months for the ranch to change hands, which is not uncommon for a sale of this magnitude.

Ultimately, the owners of J-Six South Dakota Land Holdings, a Kansas-based farm and ranching family, jumped on the opportunity to integrate the Bismarck Trail Ranch into their existing operations. For Wanless, this was another stroke of luck.

“It really was the perfect fit,” Nelson says. “He was very pleased with the buyer and their vision to continue farming and ranching there. It’s also a win-win for locals. It’s someone who will invest in the community and continue ranching on the property.”

Corinne Gaffner Garcia is editor-at-large at The Land Report, the magazine of the American landowner.