By Catherine Hillard
News Editor
Players across the country intently watched the Powerball drawing on Wednesday night, as nerves ran high hoping they had winning Powerball numbers and could walk away a billionaire. The winning numbers, drawn in Tallahassee, Florida, were: eight, 27, 34, four, 19 and the Powerball ten. California lottery officials immediately responded after the drawing stating that a winning ticket was sold in Chino Hills Parkway in California. They tweeted, “We have a winner in California! A jackpot-winning ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills. We’re still awaiting results from other states.”
It was later confirmed that there were also two other winners of the $1.5 billion jackpot in Melbourne Beach, Florida and Munford, Tennessee. 25 other winners won a smaller winning of $1 million, and three who selected the Power Play option won a grand total of $2 million. These tickets were sold in over 14 states, including Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland.
The first drawing started at $40 million on Nov. 7, 2015, and took 20 drawings before there was a winner, beating the previous jackpot of $656 million in the 2012 Mega Millions. The $1.5 billion jackpot is equivalent to a cash value of $983.5 million, according to Texas lottery officials. The chances of winning the grand prize were 1 in 292.2 million.
To win the jackpot, players must match all six numbers. The first five can be in any order, but the sixth must be the exact Powerball number. Although no one won the grand prize on Saturday, 25 players won $1 million, and three players won $2 million, (before tax) for matching five out of the six numbers.
Based on the ABC New analysis of the past Powerball winners the numbers, eight, 13, 14, 39, and 54 are the most commonly drawn numbers. Rather than picking meaningful dates such as birthdays and anniversaries, lottery organizers noted that the majority of previous winners let the computers pick their numbers. Although this was advised, it was not definite to make players more likely to win.
• http://abcnews.go.com/US/powerball-drawing-clues-previous-lottery-winners/story?id=36143401
