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Subscribe to RSSThe record $580 million Powerball jackpot will be split by the owners of tickets sold in Missouri and Arizona, according to lottery officials. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
Updated at 8:22 a.m. ET: The winning numbers to the largest Powerball drawing in history: 05 - 16 - 22 - 23 - 29 and Powerball 06.
Lottery officials confirmed early Thursday that there are two winning tickets -- one sold in Arizona, the other in Missouri.
The winners will split a $579.9 million jackpot, which went up nearly $30 million before Wednesday night's drawing. The jackpot jumped up from half a billion dollars on Wednesday, according to Powerball officials. The new jackpot carries a cash value of $379.8 million before taxes.
Arizona lottery officials said early Thursday morning they would announce where that state's ticket was sold during a news conference later in the day.
Advice for the lucky so-and-so who won the huge Powerball jackpot
The jackpot had rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner, prompting Americans to go on a ticket-buying spree in the run-up to the drawing. At one point, tickets were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide — about six times the volume from a week ago.
In addition, Powerball officials said that eight people won $2 million prizes and 58 other ticketholders won $1 million.
As lottery official Sue Dooley notes, tickets matching all five of the white balls in the record $580 million Powerball drawing, can be cashed in for $1 million in prize money.
Although this Powerball jackpot is a big one, it's not the largest lottery prize ever. That mark is held by the $656 million Mega Millions jackpot that was split by three ticket buyers earlier this year. The previous biggest Powerball prize was $365 million in 2006, shared by several ConAgra Foods workers in Lincoln, Neb.
Powerball is played across 42 states, plus Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands.
As for the winner or winners: All but five states -- Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota and Ohio -- require the lottery to release the winning names to anyone who asks, according to the Powerball site.
11 things more likely to happen than winning the Powerball jackpot
There were no Powerball winners for Saturday's drawing, in which $325 million was up for grabs. The winning numbers Saturday were 22-32-37-44-50 with Powerball 34, according to the Powerball lottery's website. There were 10 winners of $1 million and one winner of $2 million.
Scott Olson / Getty Images
A sign outside the One Stop Mart in Chicago shows the winning amounts for lottery games including the $550 million for the Powerball jackpot on Wednesday. The jackpot later increased by another $30 million. A single Powerball winner would get a lump sum payment of about $379.8 million before taxes.
The huge jackpot has brought a flood of ticket sales. "It’s been crazy," the manager of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Westminster, Colo., that sold 2,000 tickets in 11 hours on Tuesday, told Reuters.
Clock ticks on $100 million lottery prize in UK
Ticket buyers are not only dreaming of living large, but already brewing ways in which they might quit their job.
"I was thinking maybe I should hire a marching band to help me (quit)," Joe Cooke of Illinois told Reuters, after buying $50 in Powerball tickets Wednesday morning.
Powerball millions will buy you a lot of ... misery
Cooke, 29, fields customer service calls for a financial institution, which he describes as listening to "rich, mean people" complaining all day, Reuters reported.
At a downtown Detroit convenience store, Ceejay Johnson purchased five Powerball tickets. If she strikes it rich, the analyst from Southfield, Mich., said she would buy a home for her sister in Florida. Then she would "go into hiding" and take care of her family.
"And the IRS," she added.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Every lottery drawing that comes up, I pray to god that I win! After years of not winning, god spoke to me and said "...first, ya gotta buy a ticket..."
Wonder if my luck will change on this drawing?
jack
At 175 million to 1. I would say your luck will not change ( neither will mine ). Like you I still have my money in my wallet. Safer there.
If the chances of winning are 200,000,000 to 1 and the payoff is $550,000,000, then each $2 ticket has an expectation value of $2.75. It's a good buy!
If I win..I'm going to get me a job..so I can quit! ;)
And a magical unicorn told me I will win. Bet I got better odds. If I win, i'm buying a house in the middle of nowhere and building a bunker. This ship is sinking. I will have flamethrowers made to rise from my yard and smoke those who would come for my freedom.
@Ferrro - Keep in mind that you wouldn't get a payoff of $550m - more like $200m after taking the cash option and paying taxes. Still, the expected value of this drawing is positive because of all the other ways you can win money (matching 3, 4, 5, 4+powerball, etc..) - it's not just based on the big JP. I'd guess the EV is around $2.50 for every $2 spent, although the vast majority of the EV will be taken by the big JP winner.
Your odds of winning are infinitely higher if you buy 1 ticket instead of no ticket. However, the odds of winning grow only an infinitesimal amount for each subsequent ticket. Therefore, the best purchase is 1 ticket.
I WON, I WON, I WON, I WO...wait a minute, powerball? I thought this was Bingo!!!
We should hate them.
Those rich bastards, just like Romney.
These people made all their money off of other's hopes and dreams.
The lottery reminds me of the most disgusting-looking older woman I have ever seen who used to work at one of my past jobs. She used to pray to Jesus to win the Power Ball almost ever day. I wish that was a lie, but it's not. She was intolerably disgusting. Even now, when I hear the words, "Power Ball", I think of her disgusting face uttering it in a sickening twisted rictus of old, semi-rotted flesh.
Who keeps the money that isn't paid out to you in the lump sum?
The money that's not paid to you in the lump sum figure is not in the pot to begin with. Only the lump sum offered is actually in the pot right now. The annuity amount is only a projected future total amount that is paid over a long period of time where the lump sum is invested for you by the lottery and dribbled back to you over 30 years' time.
It's actually deceptive advertising if you ask me.....but having a huge $500 million+ figure draws more ticket sales than the actual $300 million or so that it truly is.
I won!!! I bet a friend a dollar neither of us would win.
There are about 312 million people in the United States. I would give a million to each one and keep the change left over if I had won. Would solve a lot of peoples problems I tell ya...
I think things would become quickly devalued as everyone would have one million dollars extra.
4% of the people Wouldn't need the money cuz they're already millionaires. More for you !!
There goes December's grocery budget.
Sgation - that is the problem we face right now. People don't know how math works when buying a home and other things. You can only give 312 million people, 1 dollar. Maybe you were just being funny. I hope.
Mike277, win or lose, you'll be in better shape this morning than the Illinois guy, apparently a non-winner, who identified himself and said he has to listen to mean, rich people at his job every day. Could be he'll get a pink slip this morning. (You wait until after you win to spout off.)
middleclass.... I hope everyone noticed that. If they didn't we are in real trouble. I blew past it because I wanted to make a funny, and I am thinking the person who made the original must have known too.... if not, I have plenty of bridges for sale, and I know some people who could use an accountant with those math skills. :-) :-) :-)
I was gonna buy MTV, fire Snookies and the teen mom, and put some old rock videos on 24/7. Why? Not sure.
It's mine!!! all mine!
There's going to be 3 tickets sold, maybe 4 tickets.
The only one who wins is the TAX MAN ( BIG TIME ).
Not the only one, get real! I pay $2 get $550 million and pay $200 million. I say I make more money than the tax man! And I'm happy to pay it!
Could you count it as capital gains tax? I mean, you could argue it was an investment, or does the code prohibit lotteries as a legitimate investment.
@ no more filbert,
Only if your name is Willard Romney and you're good at lying!
It's BS... the US is one of the only countries that taxes lottery winnings. They should NOT be taxed.
Good Luck! Don't forget your friends -
This fella likely just lost his job on the basis of giving his statement, name, and location to the press. Lol
It's ironic that Cooke describes his job as listening to "rich, mean people" complaining all day. If he wins $500 million he will be one of them.
I also don't think he has to wait to win to quit his job. I'm fairly certain he just resigned.
No doubt. We salute you Mr. Joe Cooke of Illinois! Soon to be former customer support representative of a financial institution! May your sacrifice be an example to others of what not to say!
Customer service rep jobs must pay well if he has an extra 50 dollars to waste on lottery tickets.
If Calif. was in this it would be triple the amount.
You know they should have a national lottery and have the proceeds go towards paying down the national debt. Of course if they do it they would steal the money for some other use. Plus instead of the chances they have not have fewer numbers so more people win. Who really needs 500 Million. Winning a million would be just fine. I am a genius!
There was a cartoon several years ago where a guy is in his boss's office with his pants down as the boss's secretary peeks in and says, "Johnson, your wife's on the phone. Something about a wrong lottery number."
The cheapest fantasy is the lottery. I am always disappointed that there cannot be 500- 1,000 winning tickets, or 50...it always comes out 1 or few lucky numbers.
It can be. It just that it hasn't happened.
The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math.
The headline says a better chance of becoming President.??
President = 1 in 300,000,000 every 4 years.
Lottery = 1 in 175,000,000 several times a year.
Where did NBC learn math.....from Congress???
Where do you get the "President = 1 in 300,000,000" figure from?
Are you allowing newborns to run for president now?
Where did YOU learn math.....home-schooled by idiots???
Bushs fuzzy math.
Let's see, home schooled by idiots, or a public education by incompetent morons. Beggers can't be choosers.
The winner will be a McDonalds employee in Florida..just like the last big one.
Love the fool's who put the money out, thinking thy can win. thy don't have .
yet thy can play. and at the same time cry about the money thy don't have to pay the house bill's or national dedt. are food. for there family.ect. what's wrong with this picture.??? I say put a end to the people who have . make them pay through the nose. go after them, if you can give money to a fools game. then you can pay the government ......
You sound like a jet engine running on contaminated fuel.
Why can't we donate some of this money to the government--to reduce the deficit?
we do its called income taxes on money that was already taxed when earned, then half that goes to the Govt the other half gets taxed from the winner. Total win for the Gov't.
It's just fun to talk to your friends and co-workers about the game -- not even about winning. My favorite winner was the youngish guy with dental problems and a family who said he had been so worried about paying his gas bill that month. The gas company wins every month, but nobody chides them about the tax breaks they get away with.
And yet, despite the odds that no one can EXPECT to even think he/she has a chance, several people will actually win this or a higher amount in the the next few draws. Usually the higher the amount, the greater the chance for split wins... by people THE MEDIA ALWAYS SAY WOULD NEVER-EVER WIN. And that's why people keep throwing out a few bucks to dream this very big dream: It's fun to dream while you're wide awake.
"Joe Cooke of Illinois" is looking forward to his boss reading this news item to him in the morning.
I had three tickets and didn't match a single number. Yes the odds are astronomical. But where else do you have the potential to change your entire life for so little effort and without financial hardship at just $2 per ticket?
If I'd bought a ticket I would have had 4 out of 6 numbers.... 5 6 22 and 29. I would have also picked 18 instead if 16 and 33 instead if 23. These are all family member's birthdates. I would have won a lousy $100.... whoopie.
In the democrat party.
I didn't get into the pool at work and I really hope they win!
Damn! Gotta go to work tomorrow.
Breaking news...really?
There should be quite a few winners with those numbers.
With all the numbers under 30, the birthday combination players have some pretty good odds this time!
Ya for real. Only 3 or 4 drawings in the past year had a 5th ball less than 30. It would figure I went with the odds this time and picked higher numbers.
I did win though.. A whopping $4 on $10 spent. WOOHOO!! I'M RICH!!!!
4 out of those 6 numbers were family bday numbers I play : 5, 6, 22 and 29. I would have won $100.
There must be some mistake those weren't my numbers ..and all that money I spent on lighting candles to the saints ( there's so many of them ) for a win
And I get nothing
Why not draw 500 sets of numbers and have 500 millionaires?
Why not 5000? Surely 5000 people could use $100,000 each.
I'd play more often with those improved odds for sure. I'm sure many would.
Pete, man, take a math class. 1 or 500 the odds are about the same. Same as buying 500 tickets.
I won! I won! Any Playboy Bunny girls out there who want to come help me celebrate I'd love to celebrate with you! Just let me know. Will probably be a little on the cheap side though until I collect, then I'll take you all over the world and buy you all kinds of good stuff, promise. First come first served! Hurry!