3 Winning Tickets To Split Record Powerball Jackpot Of Nearly $1.6 Billion; Several 2nd Place Winners Across Tri-State
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- There were no overnight billionaires in the Tri-State area, but at least three winners will be splitting Wednesday night's nearly $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot.
The three winning tickets were sold in California, Florida and Tennessee. The winning numbers in Wednesday night's drawing are 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10.
The record-crushing Powerball jackpot stood at $1.5864 billion late Wednesday. Winnings can be taken in annual payments spread over decades or a smaller amount in a lump sum.
Each winning ticket is worth almost $529 million dollars before taxes.
As CBS2's Edward Lawrence reported, the winners have not come forward yet, but it wasn't stopping the crowds from celebrating.
Video from a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, California where one of the winning tickets was sold showed hundreds of people cheering inside the store and in the parking lot.
"California Lottery sold $386-million worth of Powerball tickets," Russ Lopez, Deputy Director of Communications, California Lottery said, "The Powerball winner here in Chino Hills overcame astronomical odds of 1 in 292-million to land the world-record jackpot. The lucky person will spli the $1.6-billion with two other winners in Florida and Tennessee."
The clerk who may have sold the winning ticket told CBS Los Angeles he was "really excited."
The store's owner will receive $1 million for selling the winning ticket.
"It's amazing, feels so good," owner Balvar Atwal said.
So far, none of the winners' identities have been revealed. California, Tennessee and Florida all have state laws that require the winners' names to be released.
While many were disappointed to hear no one would be claiming the top prize in our area, others said they would keep playing.
One man said he almost won because he had two of the numbers.
"It made me think that this is something I might want to do again," he told 1010 WINS' John Montone. "It's all about luck at the end of the day, it's all about probability and numbers and the reality is luck's either by your side or not."
There were several second prize, $1 million winners in the Tri-State area. Those winners matched all five white balls but not the Powerball number.
Five second place tickets were sold in New York -- three in Queens, one in Rockland County and one in Nassau County. There were also two second place winners in New Jersey and three in Connecticut.
An employee at a 7-Eleven on Stewart Avenue in Bethpage was thrilled to hear that they sold one of the second place tickets.
"Very happy, very happy!" he told CBS2's Andrea Grymes.
Ali Kusinitz, a Long Island mother who helped organize a Powerball club in the Plainview and Bethpage areas, said it was disheartening to hear a store nearby had a winning ticket.
"Literally in the bordering town, a $1 million was won at a 7-Eleven," she told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall. "We visited quite a few 7-Elevens and we were like, 'it wasn't the one we went to.'"
Kusinitz, who started the club on Facebook, said she spent hours checking the 6,000 games the 1,200 members of the club purchased. She said they won about $1,000 and have decided to donate their winnings to charity.
"We thought that it would be a great thing, we brought the community together to do the event, now we'll give back," she said.
The other stores with second place winners in New York were Good Lucky Charm Gift Shop in Ridgewood, Queens, PKG Enterprises in South Richmond Hill, Plaza South Convenience and Grocery in Long Island City and Stony Point Mini Mart in Stony Point.
It's still unclear which stores in New Jersey and Connecticut sold winning second place tickets.
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