One of America’s largest ever lottery jackpots of $579.9 million (£361.68
million) has been won by two tickets, with the identities of the winners
still unclear.
A crowd of people queue to buy Powerball lottery tickets at a shop in Arizona on Nov 27 as the jackpot reached a historic high
A crowd of people queue to buy Powerball lottery tickets at a shop in Arizona on Nov 27 as the jackpot reached a historic high
US
Powerball Lottery officials confirmed that two tickets sold in Arizona and
Missouri had matched all six numbers in the draw.
The ticket holders will share a prize of $384 million with the remainder of
the money being split between almost nine million other winners who won
smaller prizes, including about 60 who matched five numbers and will receive
about $1 million each.
It was unclear whether the jackpot winners were individuals or part of a group
syndicate.
Wednesday night’s draw featured the second-largest US lottery jackpot ever
behind a Mega Millions prize of $656 million in March this year.
Anticipation for this week’s Powerball was heightened by the fact that the
prize had rolled over 16 consecutive times with no winners claiming the
jackpot.
Lottery fever gripped much of the US with tickets selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute. At one point Florida was reportedly selling 200,000 tickets per minute.
Sue Dooley, a production coordinator for the Multi-State Lottery Association, said that 563 million tickets had been sold for the draw which experts had calculated had a 75 per cent chance of the jackpot being won.
But as the hunt for the winners began, a warning was sounded by a previous jackpot winner.
Sandra Hayes, 52, a former child services social worker split a $224 million Powerball jackpot with a dozen co-workers in 2006, collecting a lump sum of more than $6 million.
She told CBS News: “I had to endure the greed and the need that people have, trying to get you to release your money to them. That caused a lot of emotional pain. These are people who you’ve loved deep down, and they’re turning into vampires trying to suck the life out of me.
“I know a lot of people who won the lottery and are broke today,” she added “If you’re not disciplined, you will go broke. I don’t care how much money you have.”
The Powerball lottery will resume again on Saturday with a relatively minuscule jackpot of just $40 million.
Lottery fever gripped much of the US with tickets selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute. At one point Florida was reportedly selling 200,000 tickets per minute.
Sue Dooley, a production coordinator for the Multi-State Lottery Association, said that 563 million tickets had been sold for the draw which experts had calculated had a 75 per cent chance of the jackpot being won.
But as the hunt for the winners began, a warning was sounded by a previous jackpot winner.
Sandra Hayes, 52, a former child services social worker split a $224 million Powerball jackpot with a dozen co-workers in 2006, collecting a lump sum of more than $6 million.
She told CBS News: “I had to endure the greed and the need that people have, trying to get you to release your money to them. That caused a lot of emotional pain. These are people who you’ve loved deep down, and they’re turning into vampires trying to suck the life out of me.
“I know a lot of people who won the lottery and are broke today,” she added “If you’re not disciplined, you will go broke. I don’t care how much money you have.”
The Powerball lottery will resume again on Saturday with a relatively minuscule jackpot of just $40 million.
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