Powerball jackpot goes to 3 winners
MUNFORD, Tennessee — An unprecedented $1.6 billion US Powerball jackpot that became an international 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.
The winners of the world-record Powerball jackpot overcame odds of one 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 huge draw also produced eight $2 million Power Play winners and 73 $1-million winners nationwide, who matched all five white balls but missed the red Powerball, said Sally Lunsford of the Kansas Lottery.
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 cheque; Florida’s store collects $100,000, and California lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said a $1 million bonus will be shared between the Chino Hills store owner and the7-Eleven company.
The California store and its surrounding strip mall suddenly became a popular gathering spot in the rural suburb of 78,000. Hundreds of people crowded the store and spilled into its parking lot, cheering.
Store owner Balbir Atwal worked as an electronics salesman after emigrating from India in 1981, and bought his first 7-Eleven franchise at the age of 27. Now he owns four. He said he has sold winning tickets before, but never like this one. “Every time we say: ‘Oh, this is time,’ ” Atwal said.