Powerball: Single winner in $314M Powerball lottery drawingThere is a winner.
Powerball lottery officials say one winning ticket was sold for Saturday night's $314 million jackpot.
It was purchased in Indiana.
The pot had grown so huge because there had not been a big winner in any of the drawings since late June.
Also winning big in the drawing were 36 lucky players who matched the first 5 numbers for a second prize win of $200,000.
Winners of the second prize were from the following states: 2 from Arizona, 2 from Connecticut, 3 from Washington, D.C., 1 from Indiana, 1 from Iowa, 3 from Louisiana (2 with Power Play), 4 from Minnesota, 1 from Missouri, 1 from Montana, 1 from North Carolina, 2 from Nebraska, 2 from New Mexico, 1 from Oklahoma (with Power Play), 9 from Pennsylvania (2 with Power Play), 1 from Rhode Island and 2 from Tennessee.
Saturday night's six Powerball numbers are: 2, 8, 23, 29 and 35, with a Powerball of 19.
The jackpot for the multi-state lottery resets to $15 million dollars for Wednesday night's drawing.
And for people out of luck on Powerball, there is another giant lottery jackpot out there. The Mega Millions prize will be worth about $250 million for Tuesday's drawing.
With Powerball at $314 million, everyone feels lucky
Barb Stephens doesn't usually buy lottery tickets. But when the prize is $300 million, she said, how could she resist?
"It's probably been six months since I bought (one)," the Crawfordsville resident said after purchasing her Powerball ticket Saturday afternoon. "But it's so high."
A lot of people who don't normally play the game were trying their luck as the 11 p.m. Powerball drawing drew near on Saturday. The prize? $300 million — about $140 million take home — one of the highest lottery prizes in history. The Hoosier Lottery also was at an all-time high of $44 million.
At the Circle K store on the corner of U.S. 231 and Chestnut Street in Crawfordsville, assistant manager Teresa Aguilar said she's noticed a steady increase in lottery sales throughout the week.
"I had about eight people on Wednesday tell me, 'If I win, I'll come back and get your name,' " Aguilar said.
Her co-worker, Tiara Dowell, said she noticed an increase in the amount people spend, noting about a half-dozen customers spent $20 or more on the tickets and at least one guy bought $50.
"We've had a lot of new people come in, too," Dowell said. "Today, this woman came in and said, 'How do you play this lottery thing? We don't usually play, but it's so big.' "
The same was true at the Speedway across from Wabash Landing in West Lafayette, where customer service representative Jayce Kearns said he even saw one guy spend $100 on tickets.
"As it gets higher," Kearns said, "more people are buying it."
Bob Mullett, of Lafayette, is one of those people. He spent $5 in hopes of beating the 1 to 146,107,962 odds.
"If I win, I'll pay off all my bills and retire," Mullett said. "... I hope I win."
