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Subscribe to RSSIn an odd coincidence, several of the winning Powerball numbers matched the jersey numbers of baseball players in the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame: Mark Gubicza, Dan Quisenberry and Dennis Leonard to name a few. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
Updated at 7:50 p.m. ET: The search for the two big winners of Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing is narrowing.
Missouri lottery officials announced Thursday that one of the Powerball tickets worth $293.7 million was sold at a Trex Mart in Dearborn, Mo. And Arizona officials said the other winning ticket in the $587.5 million jackpot was sold at the 4 Sons Food Store in Fountain Hills, Ariz.
Missouri lottery officials said they will announce the state's winner at a press conference Friday. Officials have not yet identified the Arizona winner.
The Arizona store that sold the ticket will receive a $25,000 bonus incentive, while the Missouri store will get $50,000.
Lottery officials have not said whether the winning numbers of Wednesday night's record drawing -- 05 - 16 - 22 - 23 - 29 and Powerball 06 -- were picked by individuals or groups.
"It is so exciting to sell one of these Powerball tickets," Missouri Lottery executive director May Scheve Reardon said in a press release Thursday. "In addition, we sold two tickets that matched all five white balls, which means they each win $1 million. Three millionaires in one night is a wonderful night!"
Reardon advised all winners to be sure to sign the back of their tickets and seek legal and financial advice. Missouri winners have 180 days to claim their prize.
NBC's Kerry Sanders has more on the record jackpot and looks at how the winner may have chosen their numbers.
In addition to the jackpot winners, Powerball officials said eight people won $2 million prizes and 58 other ticket holders won $1 million.
The jackpot had rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner since Oct. 6, 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.
The Missouri and Arizona jackpot winners will share an estimated $385 million before taxes if they take the prize as a lump sum, or the $587.5 million can be paid out as annuities over three decades, the Multi-State Lottery Association told Reuters.
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 was 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.
Advice for the lucky people who won the huge Powerball jackpot
11 things more likely to happen than winning the Powerball jackpot
Powerball is played across 42 states, plus Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands. 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.
The next Powerball drawing has been reset back to $40 million.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
The 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.
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I WON...!
...eleven dollars. Oh, well.
cool....you buyin?
Darn, I only missed by 6 numbers!!!
I am from Washington and I rarely see my state actually won any of this. Btw, I got 2 numbers this time compared to 1 number from the Mega Millions, getting there, lol.
My hubby won! And we are NOT sharing! Don't suppose that $4 will go to far :-(
That's a real piss'a , The Arizona winner lives in Fountain hills ! There is a 50% chance that the ticket holder is already a millionaire. I can only remember 2 times where I was happy for the winners of a big pay out. It seems like its almost always some a=hole that wins,,,,go figure :)
crap those are my numbers and I forgot to buy a ticket.
Cuong - odd you should mention that. I also won on two #'s and I live in WA. Apparently WA never wins the jackpot. I have a better chance playing in the southern or east coast states.
@Sam-1938777
This may sound like a conspiracy, but the state that won this will receive a big chunk as well. Make you wonder how far people will go for the budget of their states.
I did not even know the price went up from 1 to 2 dollars a ticket.
Tells you just how much I play.
right state, wrong ticket.
I only play the Mega Millions, on occasion, because I'm not spending $2 for a Powerball ticket. I didn't buy a single ticket for this jackpot. Huge waste of money. Although the the lady who won the jackpot a couple months ago, bought one ticket!
At $2 a ticket, I will only play when the jackpots get huge every few weeks or so. I will only buy one ticket. Either luck/karma is with me or it isn't. It would be stupid to pour tons of money into it because the odds of winning are mathematically staggering. You really don't affect the odds much by buying multiple tickets. I have heard of people who do that but it is foolish, I think.
I guess the Force was with me just a little. I did get two numbers this time. I don't suppose I get anything but a little psychology.
Darn, if I got all six, I could be a peer of Mitt Romney!
There, now the southern states can stop complaining about how they never win the big jackpots.
The winner in Arizona was a Mexican truck driver allowed to deliver his load on American highways.
AZ might be in the southern half of the country and there are those who claim MO is a "southern" state but given it is west of the Mississippi I'd say it is more midwestern. Having said that, there have still been no Powerball winners to hit a huge jackpot in any southern state.
STOOBID Newvine told me it failed the first time!
My neighbor's grandma won. I guess that is as close to the truth as the mexican truckdriver.
John
It wasn't meant to be the truth, don't you recognize sarcasm when you see it?
I won! Looking for some fun Playboy Bunny girls to help me celebrate asap! We might have to go a bit low budget for a few weeks until I cash in, but then the sky is the limit! Promise. Hurry, don't be left off my good times list.....
starbuck.....dont bother.....
WTF was that?
How do you keep people off your lawn?
You know what I'd do if I won a Million dollars?
Doesn't matter if the winners are in a northern or southern or western state for that matter. If they are smart, they will have already hired a team of lawyers, accountants, and financial experts. And if they are REALLY smart they should be making preparations to disappear from where they live without a trace. Start an LLC and buy a home in another state under that LLC name. That's what a lot of rich people do, including private jet and yacht ownership.
Winning this kind of money is nothing to be taken lightly and in many ways can be deemed as a curse. Families will be changed forever, and they may even be in danger of kidnappings in this day of age and the state of the economy. Never underestimate the lengths some people may go to in attempting to get some of "their fair share" of this money.
You can make that much ever week ship coke into the united states. Oh yes and you buy this as undisclosed principals.
Besides the two who split the JP...66 persons had the five numbers correct but not the power ball number..so close.
But eight of those 66 paid for the powerplay which is $2 million instead of one million win... now that's a gamble too.
Eight of those one million dollar winners is from my state..and I didn't check my numbers yet..still alive hope I won $1 million at least.
HEY YOUR RIGHT!!!!! i too have five numbers...course they dont match nothin but hey...I STILL HAVE EM.....
That Powerplay is the biggest ripoff ever. Spending an extra dollar to double your prize if you win. It worked out for the eight people that won one million, but but it was a bigger profit for the lottery who got millions of people to pay for it.
Good Morning Everyone!
Congrats to who ever the winners are of $240M each of course after taxes are paid you may end up owing $5 :)
Nope the tax rate would be only 35% because these winnings are reported as income and that's the top rate.
vox....plus state " lump sum" taxes, at least here, dont know about MS. or AZ...
GM tucsand
I know two persons who are sorry they voted for Obama! LOL
They are said to get $191M each, after taxes. Doesn't sound like much when the jackpot was $570M. Good for the Fiscal Cliff, I suppose.
IA.ScooterTramp
Arizona in residence is 5% and non residence is 6%, Missouri is 4%
http://www.usamega.com/mega-millions-jackpot.asp
Yeah, I know that if I wound up with a only a mere $100M or so I would be whining about taxes.
By the way, the assumption that either of the winners voted for Obama seems a bit odd, given that the tickets were sold in states that went for Romney. That and the little problem that taxes have not gone up with Obama in office (if your state's went up, well I'm sure you can blame Obama for that...right after you nail him for the Hindenburg). Oh, who cares about facts when you can toss in some political nonsense...
I have relatives in Arizona. Hope they won. I'll go visit them.
tell her im i love, and want to get married.....
but then again 200million plus? hell you can tell HIM the same thing.....
Good one Scooter! ;D
i don't get why all states dont respect the privacy of the winners.... it's like they want them to get robbed or scammed. ITS A CONSPIRACY!!!
It's publicity. If no one was advertised as the legal winner, you would complain it is all a scam to steal the money by the state.
All states have their own rules/laws on lottery wins and some are different from others. Like the states where you don't have to give out the winners name and others you do. Also some states give you 90 days to make the claim for a winning powerball ticket and some give one year. Up too the state lottery laws how it works.
All I know is the first thing I would do is Change My Name after I Move and change phone numbers...
SIGH............ sigh......... I did not wake up rich this morning. To think about it, I put my ticket up in the altar and lighted a scented candle.... Still, not even one number of my six was right.
Adios cruel world.
Keep up praying,one day you will be blessed,if prayers were answered,millions of people would be millionares,pray for a steady job and health,if you are religious.
Thank you Nydia.... I was just kidding. I bought one ticket last Monday but was distracted with my FarmVille and forgot about it until I woke up this morning with the Lotto first in my thoughts. :-)
I really do feel for the poor guy who blew his whole monthly paycheck on powerball tickets, hoping to find a way out of his money troubles. I am sure it is more than one guy too.
They said the lottery has safegards in place to keep people from spending all their money on tickets. You can only buy 10,000 tickets at one time. That would save someone from spending their $20,000 mortgage payment on tickets.
I won $000,000,000 !!!!!!
I won more than you$000.000.000.000.I buy just one ticket,don't spend more than I can,I see people spending whole paychecks in the lotto,that is nonsense!!!
You must have paid the extra dollar for the multiplier thing.
it wasn't me, so i don't care WHO won.
i did and was going to send ya a few mill, but in the end i just couldnt find ya waldo.....
I did not win, just lost my lunch money for today. Can anyone give an ol pigeon some crackers.
An aritcle written for two readers... yet bunches of comments from people who know they didn't win. Kind of funny.
well there went the price of a beer.....sigh....oh well ( never trust a Caterpillar BTW).....
and the guy who ranted yesterday that his $2 was still safe in his wallet because he wasn't stupid.... he is still sitting at home on his two dollars.
He can spend it now for a cup of coffee, hmmmmmmmmmmm ;-P
For a couple hundred dollars I could have watched the Packers get their asses stomped for 3 hours and been very depressed. For two bucks I got a couple of days with a little hope, and a lot of funny jokes and laughs. Two dollars was a good deal for the amusement.
How much is recycled paper selling for these days?
hey anybody out there want to buy a slightly used lottery ticket? think i will e bay it......
SSSHHHHH everybody..... the spouse dont know about it yet....sneaking out the door.......
Anyone imagine what would happen if some militia-minded wingnut won all that money?
At least that fictional nut job may not have it when the aliens come back to teach us how to reset our clocks, you all know 12/21/2012 is coming.
**shivers**
The gun industry might benefit, but on the other hand, his troubles went away and he/she may forget all about that and enjoy being rich.
It's a Mad World...
Wow well it says something about the economy when people are buying lottery tickets now more than ever. Never bought a lottery ticket and I'm proud of it.
dang! i lost my ticket in AZ!... or was it in MI?... kindly return the lotto tickets to me, por favor!
no questions ask... grassy ass oooopsie my espanol is rather rusty...
LOTTERY - A VOLUNTARY TAX FOR THE POOR.
the winner came from circle K on fry blvd in Sierra Vista, camera crews are surrounding that place now...
Damn, Indiana had two million $ winners and I wasn't one of them...GO FIGURE!!! Guess I'll have to try my luck at Four Winds this weekend! ;)