Winning Powerball lottery tickets sold in California, Florida, and Tennessee
Final jackpot total of $1.5864 billion will be split 3 ways
How would you react if you won?
By Todd Northrop
The largest lottery jackpot the world has ever seen has been won Wednesday night by three tickets sold in California, Florida, and Tennessee.
Since the initial jackpot estimate was set to $1.3 billion early Sunday morning, the Powerball lottery jackpot was raised two more times before the Wednesday drawing, and by the time all the sales were totalled at draw time, the jackpot stood at a faint-inducing $1.5864 billion — that's $1,586,400,000.
The lump-sum cash value for Wednesday's drawing was just a hair shy of $1 billion, with the final tally standing at $983.5 million
The Powerball winning numbers for Wednesday, January 13, 2016, were 4, 8, 19, 27, and 34, with Powerball number 10. The Power Play was 2.
Wednesday's Powerball jackpot was the accumulation of 19 consecutive drawings without a grand prize winner over a two-month stretch. The jackpot run-up started as a $40 million grand prize on Nov. 7, 2015.
California Lottery spokesman Alex Travesta said the jackpot-winning ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, about 25 miles northeast of Anaheim.
People cheered and took photos in the store's parking lot Wednesday night. A store employee said the 7-Eleven had sold about $12,000 worth of tickets on Wednesday.
"I'm really happy," said an employee of the store at 4092 Chino Hills Parkway, which will receive the maximum bonus of $1 million. "It's very good news."
The three winners probably got very little sleep Wednesday night, as they try to process winning the world's largest lottery jackpot ever.
Are the winners running around the house screaming? Are they calling their family? Or maybe calling their boss to quit their job? What are they planning to do with all that loot?
What is the first thing you would do?
Fortunately, even if you didn't win the jackpot, the Powerball game still offers another 8 ways to win lower-tier prizes.
In addition to the jackpot winners, a whopping 81 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers, but not the Powerball, for a $1,000,000 prize: 4 from Arizona, 12 from California, 3 from Connecticut, 12 from Florida, 2 from Georgia, 2 from Illinois, 1 from Indiana, 1 from Iowa, 2 from Kansas, 3 from Kentucky, 1 from Louisiana, 3 from Maryland, 2 from Massachusetts, 5 from Michigan, 2 from New Jersey, 5 from New York, 2 from North Carolina, 3 from Ohio, 1 from Oklahoma, 3 from Pennsylvania, 2 from Rhode Island, 1 from Tennessee, 4 from Texas, 2 from Virginia, 2 from Washington, and 1 from West Virginia..
Of all the second-prize winners, eight tickets — one of the tickets sold in Arizona, one from Florida, the ticket sold in Iowa, one from New Jersey, both tickets from North Carolina, the ticket sold in Tennessee, and one ticket from Texas — were purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1. Because they purchased the Power Play, those particular tickets are now worth $2 million.
The California second-prize winners will each receive $638,146 this drawing, because by law California awards all prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning the prizes will change each drawing based on the number of tickets sold and the number of tickets that won at each prize level.
934 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $50,000. Of those tickets, 107 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $100,000, and 141 were sold in California, where the prize was $13,903 this drawing.
The odds to win the Powerball jackpot were 1 in 292.2 million.
Officials with the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the Powerball game, had said they expected more than 85 percent of all the possible number combinations would have been bought for the drawing.
Had no one matched all of the numbers drawn lottery officials said the next jackpot would have reached $2 billion.
Top 25 United States lottery jackpots of all time
After all the proceeds were counted, Wednesday's $1.5864 billion Powerball jackpot stood as the largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States — and the world.
- Powerball: $1.5864 billion, Jan. 13, 2016 - California, Florida, Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Mega Millions: $648 million, Dec. 17, 2013 - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 - Florida
- Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 - Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $564.1 million, Feb. 11, 2015 - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
- Powerball: $448.4 million, Aug. 7, 2013 - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
- Powerball: $425.3 million, Feb. 19, 2014 - California
- Mega Millions: $414 million, Mar. 18, 2014 - Florida, Maryland
- Powerball: $399.4 million, Sep. 18, 2013 - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $390 million, Mar. 6, 2007 - Georgia, New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $380 million, Jan. 4, 2011 - Idaho, Washington
- Powerball: $365 million, Feb. 18, 2006 - Nebraska
- The Big Game: $363 million, May 9, 2000 - Illinois, Michigan
- Powerball: $340 million, Oct. 19, 2005 - Oregon
- Powerball: $338.3 million, Mar. 23, 2013 - New Jersey
- Powerball: $337 million, Aug. 15, 2012 - Michigan
- Powerball: $336.4 million, Feb. 11, 2012 - Rhode Island
- Mega Millions: $336 million, Aug. 28, 2009 - California, New York
- The Big Game: $331 million, Apr. 16, 2002 - Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $330 million, Aug. 31, 2007 - Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia
- Mega Millions: $326 million, Nov. 4, 2014 - New York
- Mega Millions: $319 million, Mar. 25, 2011 - New York
- Mega Millions: $315 million, Nov. 15, 2005 - California
- Powerball: $314.9 million, Dec. 25, 2002 - West Virginia
For those keeping score, the number of jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 13
- Mega Millions: 10
- The Big Game: 2
The Big Game is the original name of Mega Millions, from the game's first drawing on Sep. 6, 1996 through May 14, 2002. The name was changed to Mega Millions starting with the May 17, 2002 drawing.
Top 25 cash value jackpots
Since many lottery winners collect their winnings in cash, the lump-sum payout is an important measure of what a winning ticket could be worth. The Wednesday Powerball jackpot's $379.8 million cash value ranks as the 2nd-highest lump-sum cash value jackpot in history.
- Powerball: $983.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2016 ($1.5864 billion annuity) - California, Florida, Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Powerball: $384.7 million cash, Nov. 28, 2012 ($587.5 million annuity) - Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $381.1 million cash, Feb. 11, 2015 ($564.1 million annuity) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
- Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013 ($590.5 million annuity) - Florida
- Mega Millions: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013 ($648 million annuity) - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $258.2 million cash, Aug. 7, 2013 ($448.4 million annuity) - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
- Mega Millions: $240 million cash, Jan. 4, 2011 ($380 million annuity) - Idaho, Washington
- Mega Millions: $233.1 million cash, Mar. 6, 2007 ($390 million annuity) - Georgia, New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $230.9 million cash, Mar. 18, 2014 ($414 million annuity) - Florida, Maryland
- Powerball: $227.8 million cash, Feb. 19, 2014 ($425.3 million annuity) - California
- Powerball: $224.7 million cash, Aug. 15, 2012 ($337 million annuity) - Michigan
- Powerball: $223.3 million cash, Sep. 18, 2013 ($399.4 million annuity) - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $214 million cash, Aug. 28, 2009 ($336 million annuity) - California, New York
- Powerball: $211 million cash, Mar. 23, 2013 ($338.3 million annuity) - New Jersey
- Powerball: $210 million cash, Feb. 11, 2012 ($336.4 million annuity) - Rhode Island
- Mega Millions: $202.9 million cash, Mar. 25, 2011 ($319 million annuity) - New York
- Mega Millions: $197.5 million cash, Nov. 4, 2014 ($326 million annuity) - New York
- Powerball: $197.4 million cash, Sep. 30, 2015 ($310.5 million annuity) - Michigan
- Mega Millions: $194.4 million cash, Aug. 31, 2007 ($330 million annuity) - Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia
- Mega Millions: $185 million cash, Nov. 15, 2005 ($315 million annuity) - California
- The Big Game: $180 million cash, May 9, 2000 ($363 million annuity) - Illinois, Michigan
- Mega Millions: $177.3 million cash, Jan. 16, 2015 ($270 million annuity) - Illinois
- Powerball: $177.3 million cash, Feb. 18, 2006 ($365 million annuity) - Nebraska
- Powerball: $170.5 million cash, Dec. 25, 2002 ($314.9 million annuity) - West Virginia
The number of jackpot cash values in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 13
- Mega Millions: 11
- The Big Game: 1
Congragulations to The Winners!
Looks like the largest Powerball winner is still the one-quick-pick person from Florida in 2013:
Powerball: $590.5 million, 1 Winner - May 18, 2013 - Florida
So Ridge won in TN - now we REALLY won't hear from him again -
LOL!!
Do not Forget 81 players matched the First 5 Numbers ,they only missed Number 10.
As a lottery player,I understand how it can be very Frustrating for anyone amongest the 81 players,who might have selected Number 9 or Number 11 as the Powerball number.
Especially now that the jackpot was $ 1.5 Billion.
I hope that Ridge did win either now or earlier. That would be an amazing thing for him.
Congratulations to all the winners in this drawing - and quite frankly I am very happy I do not live in California holding a 4+1 winner - 12+K$? 1 ball off and it goes from a 1/3 share of 1/5+B to 12+K? ouch
Highest top cash value too of ~$371 million. The infamous drawing in which MUSL advertised $600 million annuity, but paid out less. I suspect MUSL was extra careful in their projections lately, because, while the FL incident isn't well known, some have noticed, and the media would have pounced on the issue.
out of 81 ,12 players played in california! to me it appears california is home to lottery players who have master's degree from "the university of hard knocks",one of the jackpot winner's is also from california.
OK that is not such a big deal now.
I said in a post that I doubt there would be more than 3 winners so at least I got that prediction right. How would I react? I would just be like "cool" and go back to doing what I was doing Lol! I would be kinda glad the attention would be split 3 ways and not just be on me. I am just glad I did not spend much on this and no longer have to keep spending $2.00. I plan on winning cash for life anyway soon and almost did now twice. ($1,000 a DAY for LIFE $365,000 annually) After taxes about $273,000 a year which is plenty for me. Or the Mega Millions as well. Many will play now as it is more of a relief and less burden and you won't be so famous if you win $40 million. But it makes more sense cost wise to play MM's for better odds and only paying half as much. I would love to win the $40 million though next draw so I would be completely anonymous while they are still looking for the $1.6 billion winner. 
But the cost is not worth it as much as the MB now. So they would be smart not to change it.
3 winning tickets? but the pot goes to Ca. did the same person play 3 copies of the same numbers? or are we waiting for 2 more winners?
You won $ 365,000 that is quite a huge amount of money,I am just wondering why you did not upgrade to a platinum membership here at LP.I am sure Todd would have appreciated it.
I really wanted to win something. Doggonit.
I mean DOGGONIT I wanted to win something.
I've not checked for prize 2. Too many worthless tickets.
But, I'll check them, come Sunday, when I get tickets for the week.
BLAST! (or BLOST, as the Brittish would say)
Man am I upset. Somebody talk to me.
THIS REALLY BUGS ME. I KID YOU NOT.
I did not say I won I said I plan to and almost did twice.
I was a Platinum member way back for awhile but someone bought it for me as a gift because they liked my posts. But if I had that much money being Platinum would not do me much good as I don't use this site much except for occasional posting and when jackpots get big. I would be on even less then. I have also contributed here for about 11 years now. If I won big I might upgrade then especially if something appeared to help me win but I would not feel obligated to just because I won. I spent the money not anyone else.
I just woke up and read the headlines. I saw that tn had a winner. I ran to the kitchen to check my tickets. I got 2 plus powerball. I guess I have to go back to work. Lol
Lucky them!!!! I wish I was one of the winners!
Many people are not feeling too good this morning.
Truly happy for all winners but really wanted to see what the outcome would have been if there was only one winner. Meaning would that person have done something significant to help his fellow man or just keep it all for him or herself and their families. Helping their fellow man refers to putting money in cancer or some other needed medical research, helping to feed and provide shelter for the homeless etc. All these things may have been a consideration if one won the jackpot but may not be if the jackpot have to be shared three ways!
Congrats again to all winners!
Woke up this morning and found out you made a monkey{mockery} of yourself?. So is life, you win some and you lose some. Don't despair.
81 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize the article says.
But only 8 who played the Power Play are technically millionaires because of the taxes but the lottery likes to publish articles saying they've created 81 millionaires which hypes people up to play. Heck they don't need to hype me up, I'd play anyways just show me the lottery store!
Yeah, I'm pretty upset too. The one good thing is, two months from now we'll be right back where we were. Just have to keep trying.
Ridge lives in Knoxville,the winner was from Memphis area..Im happy for the winners.Last night I took my powerball money and went to Kroger instaed,my husband was not mad at all.I should have went to Ky or Georgia to play.if it ever gets that high again,I will...
All 3 jackpot winning tickets are from non-anonymous states so we will know who the winners are for better or for worse.
Yes, but they're lottery tax free states too.
With this being a random game it seems the jackpot winners are usually from California, New York or Florida.
Hmmm.
Anyone had a chance to win the jp. I hoped it would be more winners splitting the pot but at least it wasn't one person.
I wonder how many tickets were sold this time around?
Odds of 1/292M you'd think it would have gone out last time. I'm happy it went out finally, it's over...for now.
I hope many people learned a lesson...for those that went overboard and are fuming/cursing/crying this morning...how
about keeping everything in perspective next time? States love the big money making games. People go nuts and forget
the odds....and some spend too much chasing amazing odds.
I hope someone here made out alright.
"Winner, winner, chicken dinner!"
California has the biggest population (around 39M peeps) therefore it's never surprising that someone wins from CA.
Florida is ranked number 3 on the list (around 20M peeps) in population, again not a surprise here. (note that New York has around the same amount of peeps)
and
Tennessee is ranked number 17 on the list (around 6.6M peeps) defied the odds both winning again under these new odds of 292M to 1 on November 4, 2015 ($144.1M annuity but took the Cash $89.7M) and then of course tonight!
Tennessee is the fairy tale story of recent.
Just for fun if someone won out of the U.S. Virgin Islands then THAT would be very impressive as they have just over 100,000 peeps living there.
LOL, glad it's over and life can go back to normal.
Congrats to the winners.
No one million dollar winners from South Carolina!
WTH
Winning ticket sold in Melbourne Florida......
Funny, many of us feel the same way! Back to work and playing my Daily 3/4 numbers, ha ha!!
Well, it's simply not true. TN is an anonymous state if you're not a freaking dummy.
This is now the fifth Powerball jackpot winner in the state of Tennessee. The first 3 winners did not even try to be anonymous. The 4th winner did and he/she is sure anonymous!
I spell out what they did because I had already brainstormed the same approach. I laughed so hard as I realized what they did.
They used a trust within a trust.
The first trust simply claims the prize and then distributes the win to the 2nd Trust. To keep your win as private as possible, the lawyer is the trustee or even 3 wealth managers for the first trust, your name is hidden inside the 2nd trust. The lottery does not have your name.
This technique may as well be nicknamed 'Reporters, Go to Hell' I dare you to find any news story that has a trust within a trust winner's identity. These winners may as well not exist and that's how it's done folks.
Most people don't think through the benefits of using advanced legal entities and trust structure strategies. You have to seek out a special lawyer who knows all the ins and outs and is well practiced in this area of law.
Must winners go to the lawyer across the street to them and are uninvolved and aloof to towards using such nuance legal maneuvers to claim a jackpot.
Whether you realize it or not, right now, there are stealth and covert lottery winners in America. The reporters don't know. The friends don’t know. The extended family doesn’t know.
You, too, should claim that way if you can. Don’t let anyone know.
The FL/CA winners are screwed, I give you that.
Links for ref:
TN anonymous winner.
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/296695
The Asset managers accused of fronting for real $254M Powerball winner
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/239509
These winners are to the media what enemy radar is to these aircraft:
With Millions of players winning only $4, I imagine the state lotteries will just get it back. What am I going to do, buy some popcorn? Of course not, I'll just buy 4 Mega Millions.
"Can the winner of a large Lottery prize remain anonymous?
It is the policy of the Tennessee Lottery to treat such information as a public record. The Lottery will therefore disclose the name, home state and home town of winners if a request is received for such information."
source:
https://www.tnlottery.com/faq/faq.aspx
It's not the Lottery that decides if you can remain anonymous, it's the STATE LAW of each state about public information
No one ever wins in DC
But congratulations to the winners. I hope this money treats them well
All three states that had the Powerball winners do not tax lottery winnings.
I don't know why that pleases me,...but it does. I guess it's the notion that states who tax lottery winnings are "double-dipping". They profit from the sales of tickets, then have their hand out again when someone wins in their state.
lowest end number since september. if it was high end number could have rolled or 1 winner.
Imagine how all those Canadians feel this morning. They went into another country in the bitter cold for nothing. I never go into Canada for any reason, lol
Wonder if this run was a fluke or not, to earlier to tell. Since it got really huge this time people aren't going to get too impressed until the next run reaches probably close to a billion again. Just human nature we all want something new and different otherwise we get bored...lol
My state sucked, I don't even think there were any 4+0 or 4+1 winners at all LOL!
Oh well back to normal low jackpots. The one major advantage you have to winning a < $100,000,000 jackpot is that no one cares!
Exactly! Right.
Congrats to the winners!
Our office pool had tickets from both Texas and Florida. And no, not the Florida winning tickets. ;)