The winners of a record $1.6 billion US Powerball jackpot had yet to come forward early on Thursday, with officials saying the prize will be split between holders of three tickets sold in Tennessee, California and Florida.
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Each of the winning tickets is worth $US528.8 million ($NZ817 million) to the holders, lottery officials said in California, one of 44 states plus Washington DC and two U.S. territories that sold millions of Powerball tickets.
Overall, Oregon Powerball players won more than $1.5 million in prizes.
The winning numbers for the Wednesday, Jan. 13 drawing were: 04, 08, 19, 27 and 34.
“I’m getting phone calls from friends, emails”, said customer June Stoff.
Some took selfies with the store clerk on duty, who became an instant celebrity and may well have been the man who sold the ticket after being on duty for much of the run-up to Wednesday night’s drawing.
California Lottery officials confirmed that the winning six numbers had been purchased at a convenience store outside Los Angeles, as well as at locations in Florida and Tennessee.
Just for selling a winning ticket, that Publix store on Florida’s Space Coast gets a $100,000 check.
And so now lottery officials wait for the jackpot winners to come forward. This allowed the prize money to reach a record $1.586 billion.
Florida’s store collects $100,000, and California’s $1 million bonus will be shared between the Chino Hills store owner and the 7-Eleven company. They also had the powerplay option (x2) to double the winnings.
73 tickets earned $1 million each this way.
The Naifehs did not buy lottery tickets themselves, but they’re understandably amazed and happy with the outcome of the drawing.
The payout is worth about $930 million if a victor chooses an immediate cash payout instead of annual payments over 29 years, the Multi-State Lottery Association says. El Gordo last month showered 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) across the country. Larger prizes have to be claimed through the state’s lottery.
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For the second time in one week, a Powerball ticket sold in Northwest Iowa was the state’s biggest victor.
