$1.6B Powerball jackpot goes to three winners in three states
An unprecedented $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot that became a national fascination will be split three ways, by mystery winners in Florida, Tennessee and California.
The winners did not immediately identify themselves Thursday, but they bought their tickets in Munford, a town of about 6,000 in Tennessee; the modest Los Angeles suburb of Chino Hills; and at a supermarket in Melbourne Beach, Florida, where residents of a nearby housing development were heard partying loudly after Wednesday night’s drawing.
Spain’s massively popular Christmas lottery, known as “El Gordo,” is ranked as the world’s richest, though it doles out millions of prizes rather than one large jackpot like the Powerball.
The winners of the world-record Powerball jackpot overcame odds of 1 in 292.2 million to land on all the numbers: 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10. They can let the jackpot be invested and thereby collect 30 annual payments totalling an estimated $533 million, or split $983.5 million in cash all at once.
The California ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven; the Florida ticket at a Publix grocery store. Tennessee officials did not immediately say which of the three Munford stores offering Powerball tickets produced the winner. That store will get a $25,000 check; Florida’s store collects $100,000, and California lottery spokesman Alex Traverso told The Associated Press that a $1 million bonus will be shared between the Chino Hills store owner and the 7-Eleven company. The amounts that follow each state’s rules.