Crowds descended on the California store after word emerged it had sold a winning ticket, with excited customers snapping pictures and congratulating the sales associate. The store will receive a $US1-million bonus for selling the ticket. Dennis Taimanglo of Lawrenceville claimed the $1 million Powerball prize Monday afternoon.
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No ticket matched all six numbers in the previous drawing Saturday night.
Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich thanked Iowans for joining in the fun of this week’s historic Powerball moment.
Reports came in of at least one victor in southern California shortly after the numbers were drawn Wednesday night.
And the jackpot will be split three ways. No more will be forthcoming.
The victor of the drawing must match all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball.
The jackpot will be paid in annual payments over 29 years, unless the victor or winners opt for a lump-sum payment. More winners could still be revealed early Thursday.
The winners won’t take home the full $1.5 billion, though.
The California Lottery said it understood that winning tickets had also been sold in Tennessee and Florida.
The winners will divide a jackpot that, based on final ticket sales, is worth $1.568 billion, with a cash option of $983.5 million, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.
The 7-Eleven at 4092 Chino Hills Parkway in Chino Hills, in San Bernardino County, sold California’s sole six-number ticket, according to the California Lottery.
The winners’ identities remain a mystery, but they bought their tickets in Florida, Tennessee and a Los Angeles suburb.
In Maryland, there were three $1 million second-tier winners, 24 $50,000 third-tier winners and one $100,000 third-tier victor who purchased the Power Play option, said Erica Palmisano, assistant director of communications for Maryland Lottery and Gaming.
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Lottery officials said 85.8 percent of possible number combinations had been selected by midday Wednesday, increasing the chances that someone would win the world’s largest lottery jackpot.
