2 lucky winners for record Powerball jackpot
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The richest Powerball jackpot ever - and the second-largest top prize in U.S. lottery history - has been won. The question is: Who are the lucky winners waking up to new lives as multimillionaires?
Powerball officials said early Thursday morning that two tickets sold in Arizona and Missouri matched all six numbers to win the record $587.5 million jackpot.
The numbers drawn Wednesday night are 5, 16, 22, 23, 29. The Powerball is 6.
It was not clear whether the winning tickets belonged to individuals or were purchased by groups. Arizona lottery officials said early Thursday they had no information on that state's winner or winners but would announce where it was sold Thursday morning. Lottery officials in Missouri did not immediately respond to phone messages and emails seeking comment.
Americans went on a ticket-buying spree in the run-up to Wednesday's drawing, the big money enticing many people who rarely, if ever, play the lottery to purchase a shot at the second-largest payout in U.S. history.
Tickets were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide - about six times the volume from a week ago. That pushed the jackpot even higher, said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neumauer said the jackpot was estimated at $587.5 million by early Thursday, adjusted slightly upward from the $579.9 million estimate at the time of the drawing. The cash payout was $384.7 million.
Among those who had been hoping to win was Lamar Fallie, a jobless Chicago man who said his six tickets conjured a pleasant daydream: If he wins, he plans to take care of his church, make big donations to schools and then "retire from being unemployed."
The jackpot had already rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner, but Powerball officials said Wednesday they believed there was a 75 percent chance the winning combination would be drawn this time.
Some experts had predicted that if one ticket hit the right numbers, chances were good that multiple ones would. That happened in the Mega Millions drawing in March, when three ticket buyers shared a $656 million jackpot, which remained the largest lottery payout of all time. And it happened again for Wednesday's Powerball drawing.
Yvette Gavin, who sold the tickets to Fallie, is only an occasional lottery player herself, but she said the huge jackpot compelled her to play this time. As for the promises she often gets from ticket purchasers, Gavin isn't holding her breath.
"A lot of customers say if they win they will take care of me, but I will have to wait and see," she said.
Powerball officials said early Thursday morning that two tickets sold in Arizona and Missouri matched all six numbers to win the record $587.5 million jackpot.
The numbers drawn Wednesday night are 5, 16, 22, 23, 29. The Powerball is 6.
It was not clear whether the winning tickets belonged to individuals or were purchased by groups. Arizona lottery officials said early Thursday they had no information on that state's winner or winners but would announce where it was sold Thursday morning. Lottery officials in Missouri did not immediately respond to phone messages and emails seeking comment.
Americans went on a ticket-buying spree in the run-up to Wednesday's drawing, the big money enticing many people who rarely, if ever, play the lottery to purchase a shot at the second-largest payout in U.S. history.
Tickets were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide - about six times the volume from a week ago. That pushed the jackpot even higher, said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neumauer said the jackpot was estimated at $587.5 million by early Thursday, adjusted slightly upward from the $579.9 million estimate at the time of the drawing. The cash payout was $384.7 million.
Among those who had been hoping to win was Lamar Fallie, a jobless Chicago man who said his six tickets conjured a pleasant daydream: If he wins, he plans to take care of his church, make big donations to schools and then "retire from being unemployed."
The jackpot had already rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner, but Powerball officials said Wednesday they believed there was a 75 percent chance the winning combination would be drawn this time.
Some experts had predicted that if one ticket hit the right numbers, chances were good that multiple ones would. That happened in the Mega Millions drawing in March, when three ticket buyers shared a $656 million jackpot, which remained the largest lottery payout of all time. And it happened again for Wednesday's Powerball drawing.
Yvette Gavin, who sold the tickets to Fallie, is only an occasional lottery player herself, but she said the huge jackpot compelled her to play this time. As for the promises she often gets from ticket purchasers, Gavin isn't holding her breath.
"A lot of customers say if they win they will take care of me, but I will have to wait and see," she said.
Okay, I confess. IT WAS ME!! I have the winning Arizona ticket! And because that is just too much money for one person, I am going to share it with ALL OF YOU! Just post your bank account info in reply to this message and I will place a big surprise into your account! YES!! Do it now, before the money runs out!
@RatchetRanger Make sure AZ DOR gets their cut.......
You have no idea how funny this is! :~)
@RatchetRanger I thought we had an arrangement.
Don't you worry, our arrangement is still in force!
I wonder how many landlords, roomates, ex's, cousins, 2nd cousinds, 3rd cousins etc will be suing because they feel entitled to some of these persons winnings?
When the prize amount reaches these lofty heights, I'm surprised that foreign embassies don't also buy some tickets. I'm sure Greece could have used the $500+ million to ease their financial crisis. LOL
You have a better chance of getting struck by lightening.
 @MrAchilles struck 497 times
I try to keep in mind that my chances of winning are reduced only very slightly by the fact that I don't buy a ticket.
Lottery; a game for those who don't understand the laws of probability.
 @RalphCramden You realize that when you have a 1 in 177,000,000 chance at winning, any time the prize is over 355,000,000 million it is actually a good bet right?  No, probably not because you have no clue about probabilities and statistics either.
 @Portlander29Â
Are you kidding me? The odds of winning are exactly the same.
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One of my degree is in economics. Part of that requirement is a lot of advanced math and statistics.
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I have to say, there are a lot of people posting comments on things the know nothing about these days.
@RalphCramden @FreedomRocks @Portlander29  The lottery doesn't have to win any of the times to make money, as not all the proceeds from sales go into the jackpots. State run lotteries are guaranteed cash in the bank.
 @FreedomRocks  @Portlander29Â
He was trying to sell the book.
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Lotteries are meant to make money, In order to make money it has to win the majority of the time. Every now and then it makes a payout which keeps the suckers coming back.
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Las Vegas was built on the backs of losers. I am always amazed all my friends and co-workers who came back from Vegas and won enough to pay for their trip. It's nothing more than cognitive dissonance. They lost money and are trying to justify it in their own minds. It is part of the gambling addiction.
 @RalphCramden  @Portlander29 It was funny watching the guy who wrote a book on how to win the lottery try and explain his theory to Melissa on the money show.
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She kept asking him how his method could work when the odds of winning are the same every time no matter what numbers you pick. Rather then rely on math he kept going back to past results to try to justify his non realistic method and non-math based methods...
 @Portlander29Â
The part that you don't understand is that there are more people playing which increases the chances that you will be sharing the winnings with more people. That is known as a variable and can be predicted in a formula with pretty accurate results.
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In reality the more people that play decreases the chances of winning all the money. In this case there are two winners so your theory goes right out the window and the loss would have been hundreds of millions to the person buying all the tickets.
 @MrAchillesÂ
And can defy gravity at will.
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Statistics will not be denied.
@Portlander29 I'm not saying that playing the lottery with your last 20 bucks when you have kids to feed is ever a good idea. I'm just saying that playing it when the expected return calculates out into your favor it is not a bad bet.Â
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I don't play until the Powerball price is above that threshold because I don't really expect to win so that would be throwing money away, but when the payout is worth the wager, I throw five bucks at it in a group at work.Â
Anytime the payout is that far over the chances of winning, it is a good bet because if you did it 177,000,000 times you would be pretty much guaranteed to come out ahead (as long as you only played when the jackpot was 354,000,000 or higher because it is 2 dollars per chance).Â
If you play when it is at its starting level of 20 million it basically means if you played 177,000,000 times you would lose something like 334,000,000M dollars.
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I didn't say it changed your odds of winning, as it doesn't but it does change the expected return from something like 1-17 to 1-1 or better.
No kidding. These people have no clue whatsoever, probably teenagers, or some dude living in moms basement.
I'm still a loser! ;^)
I figured at least one would be a toothless hick from the midwest.Â
That live in a trailer park.Â
 @JLO It should a been dope smoking, tree hugging, latte sipping, Obama voting, food stamp using, multiple piercing, tattoo absorbing idiot from Portland; as long as we're generalizing.
 @Scotty9  @JLO You know it is funny that you say food stamp using when the religious right populates the welfare line more than the left.
 @Portlander29  @Scotty9  @JLOÂ
Calling BS on that one Portlander29.
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Blue states far outnumber the red states in percentage of those on welfare.
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Not only that the percentage of blacks on welfare way exceeds those of other races as a percentage of population. And most blacks voted for 0bama so that they could continue getting that welfare.
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You can go here and get the facts right from the US government.
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_welfare_spending_40.html
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I suggest that you stop posting today. Your inaccuracies are piling up and sometimes the best thing one can do to stop losing is to stop what you are doing.
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Then again this is America and making a fool of ones self is a time honored tradition.
 @Portlander29  @Scotty9  @JLO Compare Texas to California then try and restate your comment in a way that is actually backed up by the stats rather then a left wing propaganda site...
 @Portlander29  @Scotty9  @JLO Since 75%-80% of the people in the US claim to be religious of some type that is not exactly a meaningful statement...
Welfare payouts in red states outshine welfare payouts in blue states.Â
Everyone knows that is BS big time!!  Just go to Youtube and search Obama voters, or free Obama phone. How ignorant can one be? Geeze...
"Among them was Lamar Fallie, a jobless Chicago man who said his six tickets conjured a pleasant daydream: If he wins, he plans to take care of his church, make big donations to schools and then "retire from being unemployed."
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Exactly why the government should get out of the gambling business. Lotteries are simply an effective and convenient way to (voluntarily) tax the poor and uneducated. I resent the fact that Fallie probably got the $12 for his 6 tickets from an unemployment check or food stamp allotment.Â
What a revolting development this is.  My $6 investment sure bought a lot of pleasant day dreams though.
Just think. If nobody wins this time it probably will go to a billion next drawing.  WOW!Â
Woohoo!!! I didn't win. Oh well another $8 down the toilet.
I didn't win, but it only cost me $15 to find out. And my money went to increase the pot somewhat, I guess!