$1.6 billion Powerball jackpot goes to 3 winners in 3 states

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ANDREW DALTON

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An eye-popping and unprecedented Powerball jackpot whose rise to $1.6 billion became a national fascination will be split three ways.

The winners' identities remain a mystery, but they bought their tickets in Florida, Tennessee and a Los Angeles suburb where even lottery losers were celebrating Thursday that such heady riches were won in their modest city.

The winners of the world-record jackpot overcame odds of 1 in 292.2 million to land on the numbers drawn Wednesday night, 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10. They can take the winnings in annual payments spread over decades or a smaller amount in a lump sum.

The California ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, California, lottery spokesman Alex Traverso told The Associated Press. The winning ticket in Tennessee was sold in Munford, north of Memphis, according to a news release from lottery officials in that state.

FULL story at link.


TAKES OUT REFERENCE TO ONLY WINNING TICKET - 7-Eleven store clerk M. Faroqui celebrates after learning the store sold a winning Powerball ticket on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016 in Chino Hills, Calif. One winning ticket was sold at the store located in suburban Los Angeles said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for California lottery. The identity of the winner is not yet known. (Will Lester/The Sun via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b16dd3f2b3bf46ab8113db81e7cfeee8/16-billion-record-powerball-jackpot-be-split-3-ways

[callous taoboy]

1. Welp, back to work.

[klook]

2. How many lives will be ruined by this jackpot?

Seems like every lottery winner ends up in a downward spiral of wasteful extravagance, family squabbles, and despair. All set to the backdrop of the song "Is that all there is?"

I've never participated in this tax on people who are bad at math and never will.

[Sherman A1]

3. Hard to say if any will be "ruined"

or perhaps some folks will be far better off than they once were. It is not for me or anyone else to judge what others choose to do or not do with their money or how they live their lives.

[Travis_0004]

4. Its because some people can not handle money

Assuming each person gets about 200 million after taxes, they could set up an annunity that pays them 250k a week. If they blow it all this week, wait until friday when you get paid again. Doing that would make it impossible yo blow through your money.

[Blue_Tires]

9. My heart bleeds for them...

[TexasBushwhacker]

11. Actually the people who spend it on OTHERS

end up quite content. It's the people who spend it all on themselves that end up in a van down by the river.

[yellowcanine]

13. I suspect more are "ruined" by spending money they can't afford on tickets rather than

coming up with a plan to manage their finances so that they do not have to depend on a "deus ex machina" to save their sorry financial butts. As to the winners, I would guess there are some who manage to adjust to their new circumstances without difficulty and others who don't. My guess is that the people who manage well are the type who were already managing their finances well and the people who manage poorly are the ones who weren't. Winning the lottery doesn't change the pattern people have set over their lifetimes. I would think that someone who doesn't really need to win at the lottery but bought a ticket for entertainment purposes but then happens to win will quite quickly know how to proceed wisely once they get over the shock of winning.

[JackRiddler]

17. This is a myth

You hear about every jackpot winner whose "lives are ruined." True of very few, however.

"Bad at math" is another slur on what, 60% of the U.S. population? They do it for the fantasy element, it's just like porn - a form of porn pushed aggressively by states advertising it. But just as the porn consumer doesn't think he's not really having sex with Cindy Crawford, the lotto winner spends daydreams about winning knowing they;re not real -- and doesn't care.

I'm anti-lottery, by the way.

[sulphurdunn]

5. I guess this means they'll all vote republican now.

[cstanleytech]

6. Funny thing is I told my brother that there would probably be about 2 to 3 tickets and

the most likely states I told him were California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York.
Edit: I missed on Tennessee though but then again the southern states rarely seem to get a big lottery winner with the exception of Florida.

[reflection]

7. 10 minute drive from from my house, where one of the winning tickets was sold.

Munford, TN. I wonder if my buddy won his share of it. That is a fairly small town.

[Gumboot]

8. Oh well, now I've got a $2 beer mat.

Back to work, dang it...

[brooklynite]

10. $320 M per ticket -- before taxes

Hardly worth it.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. I won!

$4

[jeff47]

14. I also won $4!!

Party time!!

(Unfortunately, that smiley is all $4 will buy.)

[elmac]

15. Great!

Now we can get back to REAL news instead of hyping state gambling giving false hope to the poor.

[roamer65]

16. Glad to see it went to 3 winners.

If one person would have one it, they would have become a lightning rod of attention and scorn.