Winning $337 million Powerball ticket sold at Mich. gas station

WDIV's Sean Ley reports from Lapeer, Mich., where the only winning lottery ticket was purchased in the $320 million Powerball jackpot.

Updated at 7:12 a.m. ET: A single ticket sold at a gas station in Michigan matched all five numbers and the red Powerball to win the $337 million jackpot, the 3rd largest Powerball prize in U.S. history, lottery officials said Thursday. 

Sales surged beyond expectations for the prize, which comes with an immediate cash option of $241 million, said lottery operator Multi-State Lottery Association, comprised of lotteries in 32 states and the District of Columbia.


The winning numbers drawn on Wednesday were 6, 27, 46, 51, 56 and the red Powerball, 21. The odds of having a winning ticket were one in 175 million, according to the lottery. 

The $337 million ticket was sold in Lapeer, about 45 miles north of Detroit. There wasn't immediate word about the buyer's identity, the Michigan Lottery said early Thursday.

A person who answered the phone Thursday morning at the Sunoco station told The Associated Press that he was too busy to talk.

Eight tickets matched five of the winning numbers to win $1 million. Two of those tickets were sold in Indiana. The others were sold in Kansas, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

There was also a ticket sold in Nebraska that added the Power Play to win $2 million.

The jackpot has rolled 14 times since June 27. The last win was on June 23, when a Connecticut couple took home a $60 million prize.

Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com 

"I can't even really think of what I wouldn't do," 7-Eleven customer Shelley Taylor told NBC station WBAL of Baltimore, about dreams of winning the jackpot.

"Absolutely nothing but travel; I would travel; quit my job and travel," customer Maresa Gold said.

The largest Powerball jackpot of $365 million was won in 2006 by eight workers from a meat-packing plant in Nebraska.

Tickets, which start at $2, are on sale until about one hour (times vary by state) before the 10:59 p.m. ET drawing. Five white numbered balls are drawn from a drum with 59 balls and one red Powerball from a drum with 35 numbered red balls.

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

The top prize is won by matching all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Discuss this post

Jump to discussion page: 1 2 3 4

The GOP just got one more vote!!

  • 1 vote
Reply#56 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:10 AM EDT

They need to spread the wealth and have bigger payouts to winners who have 3,4, numbers. Why such a big payout to one winner.

    Reply#57 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:13 AM EDT

    Awe Shucks, i did'nt win the lottery again ???

      Reply#58 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:17 AM EDT

      Congrats fellow Michigander!

        Reply#60 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:08 AM EDT

        I see that the news media is already at it. The Associated Press was stupid enough to call the gas/convenience station in the morning and were surprised when the person answering the phone did not have any time to talk. Duhhhhhhh....associated press....mornings are the busiest part of the day at most gas/convience stations nationwide.

        • 1 vote
        Reply#61 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:10 AM EDT

        I'm sure the winner will be some retired old @!$%#-those are the only @!$%#s who ever win this @!$%#ing thing, because they have the time and money to play it-@!$%# old people!

          Reply#62 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:12 AM EDT

          Powerball is a scam - It is ALWAYS Minn., Wisc., Ohio, (some northern state) that wins the big ones. You NEVER hear of a southern state winning anything over 5 million. NEVER. I even contacted the Powerball group and asked for a state by state bar chart of how many times different states won over 5 million through the years - they flat out refused to provide that information.

          They have control of which state gets to print the winning number and certain states are always the ones that get it. They may not know who wins it; but they sure have control of sending the winning numbers to the state machine they want to print a ticket of those numbers. Like everyting else in America its rigged and crooket.

            Reply#63 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:15 AM EDT
              #63.1 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:07 AM EDT
              Reply

              I'm not a greedy person, I could use about $7,000.00 that would solve all my money problems.

                Reply#64 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:19 AM EDT

                Michigan people would be my number two priority - family would be number one...nice to see a Michigander win...

                  Reply#65 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:20 AM EDT

                  Glad to see some one hit it BIG.

                    Reply#66 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:49 AM EDT

                    I would determine how much i need to live comfortably and travel with my husband and my family, set up nice trust funds for my children and make sure there is money for their education. . .but would not let them touch it until they proved deserving of it through hard work and effort. I would then give enough to all family and friends who are hard-working and struggling to make their ends meet. I would not give a dime to anyone who sits back and refuses to work hard and support themselves.

                      Reply#67 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:33 AM EDT

                      Well, contact your attorney and sign papers that both protect your winnings as well as simultaneously permit your attorney to redeem the ticket via "attorney-client privacy" or whatever the proper term is, folks. He or she redeems it and places the sum into a previously formed trust account ina huge city bank where you are just another number....and not known to anyone there hopefully.

                      Make no big financial or lifestyle changes for a year....settle down from the excitement and relax. Keep working....eat better, and take care of yourself.

                      After a year is passed you will know what you do NOT want to do in your life.

                      Discipline for all this? Hell, yeah, but you want to retain your anonymity and never be a target of kidnapping or extortion. Take care of doantions ANONYMOUSLY thereafter. Buy gold and silver as paper instruments are failing the world over. keep a low profile, but travel and stay humble. The rich are as naked when they leave this world as are the poor. Money does not empower you; giving and sharing do, especially ANONYMOUSLY. Resist boasting, envy, revenge and all acts of harm.

                      Live your lives and do not find yourself with dreams still on your lips as you lie dying.

                        Reply#69 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 12:31 PM EDT

                        If I won the lottery I'd start a Scotch tape store. I'd sell all kinds of tape; duct tape, wrapping paper tape, electrical tape, etc. No boxes, no wrapping paper. Just tape. That's it. And I'd spend my days behind the counter with a latte machine, sipping beverages and reading books on my Nook.

                        • 1 vote
                        Reply#70 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 12:38 PM EDT

                        NICE!

                          Reply#71 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 12:51 PM EDT

                          The winner(s) are almost always lower-middle-class individuals who don't know how to deal with big money and end up being taken for most of it, or losing it on their own.

                            Reply#72 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 12:53 PM EDT

                            How come ya never see headlines like: "Psychic Wins Lottery!!"

                              Reply#73 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:04 PM EDT

                              Take the cash and buy Detroit. You would still have plenty of cash left to fix it up and flip it to an Arab for a profit.

                              • 1 vote
                              Reply#74 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:16 PM EDT

                              The power ball drawing video showed all the 5 numbers coming out of the machine into the slot but all they showed of the power ball number was it just sitting in the slot???

                                Reply#75 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:51 PM EDT

                                The power ball drawing video showed all the 5 numbers coming out of the machine into the slot but all they showed of the power ball number was it just sitting in the slot??? I wonder if the video had been edited/spliced and if so why???

                                  Reply#76 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:53 PM EDT

                                  I just hope the winner thinks with his/her brain instead of their wallet. If I won that big jackpot, the only person I would tell is my wife. We would lay low and get financial and legal advice before coming forward. We would also change our phone numbers. Last thing you want is a phone call from your Uncle Ned (and you don't have an Uncle Ned).

                                    Reply#77 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 3:57 PM EDT

                                    If the federal government would happen to buy 455,764 tickets and each of them won that much we would be caught up on our debt for one nanosecond.

                                      Reply#78 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:17 PM EDT

                                      Yea no kidding the powerball winner was from somewhere in Michigan ? There was no winner in Michigan

                                      or anywhere else ! The lotteries are all fixed ! the winners are the federal government ! All numbers

                                      picked go to a central computer bank ,then they are sorted to pick the combination of numbers

                                      that are least picked.oh yea a few people win smaller amounts of course they have to make it look

                                      like its kosher......you people are throwing your money away ! Think about it people,it's a scam ! they

                                      can program a computer on mars and they can't do this ! come on people! the congress has may millionaires !

                                        Reply#79 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:16 PM EDT

                                        If I was the winner I would buy a house, start up a dream business, quit my crappy current job, donate a big chunk to charities, hire people to work at my dream business. Because let's face it, there are a lot of unemployed hard working people who need a good paying job. Yeah, I'd splurge a little. But the majority of it would go to helping people and worthy causes.

                                          Reply#80 - Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:53 PM EDT

                                          money is money. take it and dissappear!!!

                                            Reply#81 - Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:49 AM EDT

                                            yea

                                              Reply#82 - Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:51 AM EDT
                                              Jump to discussion page: 1 2 3 4
                                              You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
                                              As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.