NewsBite

Record Powerball winnings split three ways

ONE of the winners of the record $2 billion Powerball jackpot has been revealed as a California nurse who was given the ticket by her generous boss.

Staff writer
5 min read
January 15, 2016 - 1:58PM
Powerball: $1.5 Billion Winning Numbers Announced

ONE of the winners of the world record Powerball jackpot has been revealed as a California nurse who was given the ticket by her generous boss.

The owner of a chain of nursing homes purchased 18.000 tickets in the $US1.6 billion ($2.28 billion) draw for his employees and patients, only for one of his senior nurses to hit the jackpot, the New York Post reports.

A registered nurse at Park Avenue Healthcare & Wellness Centre, in Pomona, discovered shortly after the Wednesday night draw that she was one of three holders of a winning ticket, manager for her facility said.

The winner, who was working a night shift, wasn’t watching the broadcast, and only checked her numbers when her children called to remind her to check her ticket.

“Her reaction was that she didn’t believe it. She then pulled out her ticket and reviewed it with two other nurses — number by number,” sad David Levy, senior manager for the centre.

“And then she freaked out.”

Levy described the winner as a 62-year-old married mom of seven kids — six of them nurses themselves.

Despite the life-changing win, she finished her shift and didn’t go home until 11:30pm, according to Levy.

“It couldn’t have happened to a better person,” he said.

The chain’s owner Shlomo Rechnitz is said to be “prone to acts of random, eccentric kindness”, and is being lauded as the world’s best boss.

Winner ... 7-Eleven store clerk M. Faroqui celebrates with customers after learning the store sold a winning Powerball ticket. Picture: AP
Winner ... 7-Eleven store clerk M. Faroqui celebrates with customers after learning the store sold a winning Powerball ticket. Picture: AP

The deserving winner will pocked around $187.2 million, sharing the total prize pool with two other winning ticketholders in Florida and Tennessee.

The lucky three overcame odds of 1 in 292.2 million to land on the numbers drawn on Wednesday night, 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10, splitting the world-record jackpot between them.

They won’t quite become billionaires, but each of the three winners will take home with a life-changing amount.

With the deduction of a 39.6 per cent federal income tax and three-way split, each lotto winner will end up will be left with around $187.2 million, if they take the lump sum. Winners can alternatively elect to receive their prize in annual payments spread over decades.

Though it’s not quite the billion-dollar win entrants were hoping for, the three jackpot claimants hardly have room to complain.

Thanks to taxation laws in their states, the winners are better off than most Americans would be if they picked the numbers.

Unlike most states, California, Florida and Tennessee do not tax lottery winnings, leaving the winners around $28 million better off then they would be if they bought their tickets elsewhere.

The California ticket was sold at a convenience store in Chino Hills, California, lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said. The winning ticket in Tennessee was sold in Munford, north of Memphis, according to a news release from lottery officials in that state.

The California store immediately became a popular gathering spot. Hundreds of people cheered for TV cameras as if it were New Year’s Eve or a sporting event.

The winnings numbers.
The winnings numbers.

Some took selfies with the store clerk on duty, who became an instant celebrity.

“I’m very proud that the ticket was sold here,” the clerk, M. Faroqui, told the local newspaper, the San Bernardino Sun. “I’m very happy. This is very exciting.”

The 7-Eleven will get a $US1 million bonus for selling the winning ticket, Traverso said.

No details were immediately available about the Florida winner.

The estimated jackpot amounts had risen steadily since November 4, when it was reset at $US40 million. Texas Lottery executive director Gary Grief has said this Powerball offered “absolutely” the world’s biggest jackpot.

Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

But some of the biggest Powerball sales have come from cities bordering states that don’t sell the tickets, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.

Earlier, desperate US punters lined up in the cold outside news agencies and liquor stores to buy tickets for the record draw that sparked a frenzy across the country.

The odds of winning are less than one in 292.2 million but that hasn’t stopped people pouring out their disappointment online after realising they weren’t going to be a billionaire.

‘YOU NEED TO PROTECT YOURSELF’

Earlier this week, experts warned any winners of the draw to change their mobile number, keep their head down and take at least six months before making any major decision to avoid the curse than accompany those who strike it rich.

The money is available as a lump sum or a series of instalments over 29 years — any one of which would wipe out the debt of hundreds of people.

But wealth psychologist and author James Grubman said winners will have to quickly learn how to protect themselves.

“You have to learn how to say no because you’re going to have a lot of people who are going to want you to say yes,” he said.

Financial planner Susan Bradley said winners should keep a low profile and work out what to do before going public with the prize.

“You should get a new mobile phone. Keep the old one so you can check messages, but you want to go under the radar,” she said.

“I have worked with many lottery winners who have called me from the hospital. They were in because of stress ... Nobody is prepared for a lottery win, a big win like this.”

AUSSIES ENTERED THE RECORD DRAW

The world record prize pool sparked a frenzy in Australia with news that any local resident with an internet connection (bar South Australians, sorry) could enter the draw online.

Australian lottery site Lottoland has landed a five-year licence to open online gambling in international lotteries, meaning Aussies can participate in America’s supersized jackpots for the first time.

While Powerball rules technically state you need to be a USA resident and buy your tickets from an official retail outlet, the twist is Australian participants are actually betting on the result of the official draw. Lottoland assures “the winnings will be the same as if you have entered it for real”.

The change, introduced on Christmas Eve, came just in time for the record draw which has easily surpassed all other lotteries to become the largest such prize in the world. The massive prize pot is a result of a twice-weekly game that has been rolling over since November 4.

Huge volumes of traffic — a direct response to the jackpot — are taking a toll on the site. After more than 107,000 Aussies entered, the site crashed for the first time on Wednesday afternoon and has been experiencing “technical difficulties” today.

Lottoland has responded to customer complaints on Twitter, with one customer told “we are working hard on this and I trust it will come back before (the draw)”

The chances of getting tickets of course depend on whether you can get on to continuously crashing website.
The chances of getting tickets of course depend on whether you can get on to continuously crashing website.

WHAT ARE THE TAKINGS?

After 20 draws with no winner, today’s jackpot is set at $US1.5 billion, which for us is around $2.15 billion.

Lottoland has explained an Australian winner would be charged tax as an American citizen would, making the winnings closer to $1.5 billion.

“If you were to win $1.3b in the US you would receive $880 million after tax,” he told Yahoo, which would be equivalent to around $1.2 billion AUD.

That’s not a bad payout for a $10 investment, which is how much Lottoland is charging for an entry. Though US participants will pay only $2 for an entry.

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

The chances of winning today’s draw are sitting at 1 in 292.2 million.

Kelly Cripe of the Texas Lottery Commission told the New York Post players across the country bought 85.8 per cent of the 292 million possible number combinations.

Roughly 95 per cent of US Powerball tickets are computer-generated quick picks, so people’s favourite numbers aren’t really a factor. Officials don’t track which numbers are most popular because so many are randomly generated.

Powerball Lottery: A Billionaire's Shopping List
More related stories

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/wealth/everything-you-need-to-know-about-todays-world-record-powerball-draw/news-story/cec65b12f081afeebc3060b31d3371aa