Giant Powerball lottery won by a Florida ticket holder
News on 19 May 2013
News on 19 May 2013
This week’s frantic buying of Powerball lottery tickets across the United States came to an end Saturday when the draw produced a winner of the huge $590.5 million jackpot – the second largest in US history (the record is held by the $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012).
Powerball officials disclosed that the winning ticket – numbers 22, 10, 13, 14, 52 and a Powerball of 11 – had been sold in Florida, although the winner has not yet been identified.
The chances of winning the $590.5 million prize were astronomically low, at 1 in 175.2 million, but lottery officials said that 80 percent of the possible combinations had been purchased, indicating there would be a winner.
Punters across Powerball-playing states – 43 of them plus Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands – had been lining up at petrol stations and convenience stores for their chance at striking it rich, with millions being wagered in the closing days of ticket sales.
A major reason for the sales surge is that last month, Powerball landed the nation’s most populous state as California to those states that offer the game.
