Record $365 Million Powerball Jackpot Won in Nebraska

POWERBALL, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The record breaking $365 Million Powerball jackpot was won on a single ticket sold in Nebraska. The winner will now have to decide between the 29-year, 30-payment annuity, and the cash option worth $177.3 million. The winner will have 60 days after their ticket is validated to make that decision. ADVERTISEMENT

The numbers drawn Saturday night were 15 - 17 - 43 - 44 - 48 and the Powerball was 29. The Power Play multiplier was 4.

The Match 5 BONUS feature kicked in for this drawing, allowing an additional $19.6 million in cash to roll down and be split by all Match 5 winners. The special BONUS pool is in addition to the regular Match 5 prizes won on this draw. This gives each of the 42 Match 5 white ball winners an additional $467,142 cash bonus above the normal prize of $200,000 plus any Power Play winnings.

Thirty-nine players in Arizona, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin won a total of $667,142. Three additional Match 5 winners from Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee also played the PowerPlay option and multiplied their base Match 5 prize by four. These players won a total of $1,267,142 in cash for Saturday's Powerball drawing.

Two hundred sixty players matched 4 white ball numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Nineteen additional players who won at this prize level also purchased the Power Play and had their $10,000 winnings multiplied by four to $40,000.

More than 368,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prizes by four on Saturday. They did that by purchasing the Power Play option for the extra dollar. With Power Play you multiply your Powerball winnings from two to five times, except for the jackpot. At the beginning of each drawing a wheel is spun to select that night's multiplier.

Excluding the jackpot, 4,309,550 players across the nation won a total of $38.4 million in cash prizes for Saturday's Powerball drawing.

The jackpot for the Wednesday, February 22 drawing will be $15 million with a cash option of $7.3 million.

Players should carefully check their tickets after every draw. Even if there are no jackpot winners there are always tens of thousands of winners at other prize levels.

Players purchased more than $175.3 million in tickets (Powerball plus Power Play) between Wednesday and Saturday night. The lotteries sold more than $2 billion in Powerball tickets in FY05. That translates into more than $600 million for worthwhile state projects.

Powerball is now played in 28 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information on Powerball, please visit our website at http://www.powerball.com

HERE IT IS.
Winning Powerball ticket sold at O Street U-Stop
BY COLLEEN KENNEY / Lincoln Journal Star

The record $365 million winning Powerball lottery ticket was sold on Friday afternoon at the U-Stop at First and West O streets. The winner has not come forward yet, although officials think they’ve narrowed it down to five people based on a security camera tape.

Someone in Lincoln bought a record $365 million Powerball ticket. The odds for winning were 1 in 146.1 million.

“I can’t believe it,” Bus Whitehead, an owner of U-Stop Inc., said this morning. “Who would think this would happen to the city of Lincoln? It’s pretty shocking. It’s wonderful. As yet we don’t know who won. But we’re very excited for them.”

The winning ticket was sold at 3:09 p.m. Friday, according to Mick Mandl, co-owner of the U-Stop franchise at 110 W. O St.

Based on security cameras viewed by store and lottery officials, Mandl said they believe the purchaser was one of five people who were in the store at the time, including four men and one woman.

“It’s exciting,” Mick Mandl said. “It will put some excitement back in the Powerball. It’s not what it used to be.”

If the winner chooses a lump sum payment, the check would be for more than $124 million.

Whitehead said he’s been getting calls from around the nation.

“This is sure going to get a lot of publicity for Lincoln.”

Mandl said he’s had calls this morning from Good Morning America, CNN and CBS .

“Everyone wants to talk about it,” Mandl said.

There were 795 tickets sold at his O Street U-Stop on Friday.

Mandl said the business gets a check for selling the winning ticket.

“If I sold the ticket to ’em I hope they’d share in the winnings — at least, even one-tenth of a percent would suit me just fine,” Stacey Carey, a clerk at the store, said.

Only one winning ticket was sold for Saturday’s jackpot, according to the Powerball Web site.

The chances of winning the jackpot by matching all six numbers were 1 in 146.1 million. The winning numbers drawn Saturday night were 15-17-43-44-48 and Powerball 29.

If the winner takes a cash payment they would be paid $177.3 million, and after withholding of 25 percent federal and 5 percent state tax, the prize would be $124.11 million.

The winner has six months to come forward, according to Tom Johnson, a spokesman for the Nebraska Lottery.

Good question. If a multi million dollar winner takes the annuity, they only get about $ 100,000 dollars up front and then the yearly installments. One can invest the lump sum better, the lottery may not be around forever, plus the person knows they may not live 30 years ( or be in any condition to enjoy it by then ). No idea why the lottery still keeps half but if it wasn't the government running things, they would be sued for false advertising and lose the case.

IIRC, several winners have sued over the years to get the whole amount of the jackpot and have lost every time in various courts.

The half of the jackpot started with the earliest lotteries I have heard of and every new lottery since then has gone the annuity or lump sum amount. It's a cash cow for the government, just on the jackpot part.

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