Emerson Phillips
Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing produced a single winner of the $473.1 million jackpot, and the winning ticket was sold in Arizona.
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For now at least, the winner has chosen to exercise his/her right to remain anonymous.
The winning numbers were 11, 36, 61, 62, and 68 and a Powerball of 4. And the winning ticket was purchased at a QuikTrip convenience store in Gilbert, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, according to a representative from the state’s lottery.
Arizona is one of a minority of states in the U.S. that allow winners of $100,000 or more to remain anonymous, meaning the identity of the winner may never be announced. Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Texas, North Dakota and Ohio have similar rules allowing anonymous claims when the prize exceeds a certain amount.
“We are excited to celebrate this huge $473.1 million Powerball jackpot win for one very lucky Arizonan,” Arizona Lottery Executive Director Gregg Edgar said in a statement released early Thursday. “It also means millions of dollars to our state’s economy, to this winner’s community, and to the vital programs and services funded by Arizona Lottery ticket sales.”
It’s the biggest-ever jackpot won on a single ticket in the state, Arizona Lottery said, and Edgar called it “a life-changing moment for this winner.”
No dispute there.
The lucky winner can choose to either take the $473.1 million prize via the annuity option, which means it is paid out over 29 years, or a lump-sum payment of $283.3 million. Nearly every winner selects the cash option. Both prize options are subject to taxes.
Drawings for Powerball are held each Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET. The estimated jackpot for the next drawing on Saturday has been reset to $20 million, or a $12 million cash value. The longer the game goes without a grand prize winner, the larger the payout grows.
Wednesday’s Poweball winner is just the third of 2022. No tickets won the jackpot in the prior drawing Monday, or the previous 29 times before that. And a rush of ticket sales rocketed up the final figure for Wednesday’s winning ticket.
On Jan. 5, two tickets in California and Wisconsin split a $632.6 million jackpot – the seventh-largest prize in Powerball history. Then, in the Feb. 14 drawing, a ticket in Connecticut won a $185.3 million jackpot.
Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash
