INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR, AP) - A single winner will claim the entire $758.7 million jackpot from Wednesday night's Powerball drawing.
Only one ticket was sold matching all five white balls plus the red Powerball. That ticket was sold at a convenience store in Chicopee, Mass.. Massachusettes State Lottery originally said the winning ticket was purchased at a Handy Variety store in Watertown. They later corrected that to say a $1 million prize ticket was sold there.
The winning numbers for Wednesday's drawing were 6, 7, 16, 23, 26 with a Powerball of 4.
Eleven tickets worth at least $50,000 were sold here in Indiana. Two of those 11 added the Power Play option, making them worth $200,000 each.
The 11 winning tickets were sold at:
- Meijer, located at 3610 S. Bremen Highway, Mishawaka
- S.M.OKES located at 240 S. Jefferson St., Huntington
- Luke located at 5695 Indianapolis Blvd., Hammond
- McClure Oil located at 7339 W. State Road 28, Elwood
- Circle S Food Mart, located at 1355 N. Green St., Brownsburg
- Speedway, located at 511 S. Main St., Sheridan
- Circle K, located at 3461 S. US Highway 31, Columbus
- Casey's, located at 311 Pearl St., Covington
- The Spot, located at 11001 Indianapolis Blvd., Hammond
- Melton Inc., located at 8310 Calumet Ave., Munster
- Kroger, located at 14800 Hazel Dell Crossing, Noblesville
If you're a winner, you should make sure your ticket is in a secure place, consider meeting with a financial advisor and contact Hoosier Lottery customer service at 1-800-955-6886 for specific claim instructions.
Ticket claims of $50,000 or higher must be claimed at Hoosier Lottery headquarters at 1302 N. Meridian St. in Indianapolis Monday - Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
_____
ORIGINAL STORY:
The rush to become the nation's newest instant millionaire swept through central Indiana Wednesday.
"It's in quarters but it works," said a Powerball player at the Dinner Bell on the south side.
She’s buying her Powerball tickets with change, hoping for the big score in Wednesday night's drawing.
"Tonight's drawing, $700 million," a checkout clerk reminds a shopper who hadn't bought his ticket yet.
That's 700 million pre-tax dollars, which climbed to more than $758 million by the time the drawing was held just before 11 p.m. Wednesday.
Shopper April Stader already got her tickets.
"I was watching a movie and it said '700,' so that could be a sign too."
Some players weren't trusting the lottery computer to pick their numbers.
"Go with a small number, I've been going with small numbers lately."
For the superstitious, it's no time to break habits.
Some of Louise Scott’s numbers were tied to family birthdays. At the checkout counter, Scott reached into the clerk’s window and aimed for a green stuffed animal.
"I've got to rub here, the frog, for good luck.
She laughed when we asked if she wasn't taking any chances tonight.
Nearby, Powerball rookie Denise Cornett was jumping in.
"I've never played," she said she’s playing tonight because she feels lucky.
"The winning ticket," said Army veteran Harry Haskett, waving the card he'd just filled out. He spoke for a lot of people.
"Everybody's got a right to wish, hoping they can win something."
Stader is still looking at numbers to divine some meaning.
"Saturday I got a ticket and it said 23rd. Well, today's the 23rd, it's my birthday. So that could be a sign," she said.
In the grocery aisles, we found people who could really use the money and some who want to use the money for good.
"After they take the taxes out, I'll have $450 million," said Rickey Wysong. "I'm going to give 10 percent to the church, help all my friends and family and I'm going to an island. I'll be going."
"I would be donating probably quite a bit to the veterans, wounded soldiers," said Haskett.
Scott said she would begin by dividing the winnings with her church.
"Help my family and we're going to buy a home and a car," she said.
"There goes those winning numbers, thank you," said the clerk as she handed a customer her numbers.
Others promise not to forget who sold them the ticket.
"I hope I win," one woman told the clerk.
"I hope you win too sweetie," the employee said.
Facts about Powerball
WHEN IS THE DRAWING AND HOW DOES THE GAME WORK?
The drawing will be Wednesday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time in Tallahassee, Florida. Five white balls will be drawn from a drum containing 69 balls and one red ball will be selected from a drum with 26 balls. To win, players need to have paid $2 for a ticket and either have chosen numbers or opted to let a computer make a random choice.
___
THE PRIZE
The jackpot is listed as $700 million, but that refers to the annuity option, doled out in 30 payments over 29 years. Nearly all winners favor the cash option, which pays significantly less. For the current jackpot, the cash prize would be $443.3 million.
___
THE ODDS
The odds of winning are one in 292.2 million. Tom Rietz, a professor at the University of Iowa who researches probabilities, says one way to think about it is to envision the 324 million U.S. residents. Your chance of winning is roughly comparable to being that one lucky person out of the entire population, with everyone else losing.
___
TAXES
Federal income taxes will take a 25 percent bite from winnings. State taxes vary, so the amount winners will pay in taxes depend on where they play. Some of the nation's biggest states, including California and Texas, don't assess state taxes on lottery prizes, so winners in those spots would be just a bit richer.
___
WHAT IF I MATCH SOME BUT NOT ALL THE NUMBERS?
Face it, you're almost certainly not going to win the jackpot, but players have much better odds of one in 25 of winning a lesser prize. Those odds range from one in 11.7 million of winning $1 million for matching the five regular balls to one in 38 for matching the Powerball and winning $4.
___
INDIANA'S BIG WINNERS
Five times since 2005, a winning lottery ticket worth more than $10.8 million was sold in Indiana.
The biggest was a Mega Millions ticket worth more than $378 million sold last July at a gas station in Cambridge City. In March, a Lafayette gas station sold a winning Powerball ticket worth more than $263 million.
___
WHO BENEFITS?
Since the lottery started in 1989, winners claim 60 percent of the jackpot, with seven percent going to retailers, six percent covering operating costs and 27 percent toward "good causes," which in Indiana, includes the Build Indiana Fund, police and firefighter pensions and the teachers' retirement fund. In 2016, the pension and retirement funds each took in $30 million in Indiana, with the Build Indiana Fund collecting more than $251 million.
___
WHAT'S THE POINT OF POWERBALL?
Amid all the talk about sudden wealth, it is easy to forget that the purpose of Powerball is to raise money for government programs in the 44 states where the game is played, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each jurisdiction decides how to spend the money raised by Powerball and other lottery games, with some funding college scholarships, others spending the money on transportation and many using it for general state programs.
(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
