Four winning lottery tickets with five out of six matching numbers for Wednesday’s unprecedented $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot were sold here in the Bay Area, according to California Lottery officials.
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Balbir Atwal, owner of the 7-Eleven franchise in Chino Hills that sold one winning ticket, said it was “very exciting”.
The owner of the California 7-Eleven that sold one of three winning Powerball jackpot tickets says he was at home when a friend called to tell him that someone in Chino Hills had won.
The winning numbers were 08 27 34 04 19 and Powerball 10, picked in a drawing on Wednesday night. He said he would share his part of the store’s bonus with employees and family, and give some to charity.
It was the largest lottery prize ever offered in North America, and no other lottery in the world had ever featured a jackpot of that size that could be won on a single ticket.
Chino Hills resident Michael Fahim says he’s happy the ticket was sold in his hometown, even if he didn’t win. California’s share represents $154 million for its schools, Russ Lopez said – not enough “to get schools out of trouble”. Split three ways, each victor would start with $310 million.
Not that there aren’t large jackpots elsewhere.
The Lottery will release additional details as they develop. “Our goal is to have a lot of people play a little bit”.
In Melbourne Beach, neighbors were gossiping that the victor might be someone in a housing development several miles from the Publix where loud partying could be heard after Wednesday night’s drawing, according to Lisa Londini, a professional caregiver who was shopping at the market Thursday.
These winners – and any other yet-to-be-announced winning ticket buyers – will be able to choose annual payments over 29 years or opt for a lump-sum payment of about $930 million.
The previous record for a USA lottery jackpot was $656 million. “I wish it was me!”
Lottery officials and experts recommend winners assemble a team of financial experts before claiming the prize.
Ticket sales and payouts had risen steadily as weeks came and went without a victor since November 4, when the jackpot amount was reset at $40 million.
Munford is a city of just 6,000 people and only three places that sell Powerball tickets, but now it’s known across the country.
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“Everybody’s talking about it”, she said, “people figuring out how much each we would get, yeah pretty awesome”.
