Colorado chalks up its first Powerball winner

Oct 11, 2007, 8:44 am (17 comments)

Powerball

A ticket sold in the Denver metro area matched all six numbers in the Powerball jackpot Wednesday night — the first time a Powerball winning ticket has been sold in the state.

"We're just so excited to have a Powerball winner in Colorado finally," said Kristen Shew, spokeswoman for the Colorado Lottery.

"What a year it has been for Colorado — the Rockies go to the playoffs, and we get a Powerball winner."

The Powerball jackpot was up to $20 million, and one ticket sold matched the five numbers drawn: 12-16-31-33-54, plus the Powerball, 5.

It was not known where the winning ticket was sold, except that it was in the metro area.

Colorado has been participating in Powerball since 2001, but until Wednesday night never had a jackpot winner.

Shew said she doesn't know if the person who bought the ticket is the sole jackpot winner, as results from the other states weren't known late Wednesday.

But she said more information would be released today.  [Editor: Colorado did have the only winning ticket.]

"We're totally looking forward to meeting the winner and helping them through their next steps, Shrew said. "Somebody's life definitely changed for the better tonight."

Rocky Mountain News

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lmatlaw

Minor detail. Colorado has participated in Powerball since 2001, not 1991.

tony95

Powerball has been hit 4 of the last 5 draws!!! I thought this was statistically impossible?  Has someone found a flaw in the game?

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Congrats to the Colorado Winner!

In addition to 1 Jackpot Winner, their were 4 Second Place Winners:

4 Players Matched 5+0:
- 1 from Kentucky
- 1 from New Mexico
- 1 from Pennsylvania
- 1 from South Dakota

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by lmatlaw on Oct 11, 2007

Minor detail. Colorado has participated in Powerball since 2001, not 1991.

Correct.  Powerball tickets went on sale Aug. 2, 2001 in Colorado.  The story has been updated.

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by tony95 on Oct 11, 2007

Powerball has been hit 4 of the last 5 draws!!! I thought this was statistically impossible?  Has someone found a flaw in the game?

It's rare, but winning streaks like this do happen.  A couple of years ago the same thing happened, and it really hurts the state budgets when it does.  So it's unlucky for the states, but lucky for the players.

The same kind of winning streak for players can be seen in reverse for the state when nobody wins for a long time.

MissNYC's avatarMissNYC

Quote: Originally posted by tony95 on Oct 11, 2007

Powerball has been hit 4 of the last 5 draws!!! I thought this was statistically impossible?  Has someone found a flaw in the game?

I know what's the deal?! It's almost the same thing for the Mega Millions, it keeps hitting, which to me is just strange given the "odds." If this keeps happening, a ball or two should be added to help make the game a bit exciting again. If I want a 20 million dollar jackpot, I could play my local lotto. I want 100 million dollar jackpots when I play the megamillions or powerball.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by tony95 on Oct 11, 2007

Powerball has been hit 4 of the last 5 draws!!! I thought this was statistically impossible?  Has someone found a flaw in the game?

You confuse the term unlikely with impossible. It's statistically unlikely  anyone who buys a PB or MM tickets will ever win the jackpot, but somewhere 2-4 times every month there's a winner so it's possible but rare.

People who like to play when the jackpots are $100M+ are lucky that there are people who will play to win a $12M jackpot or there would never be any $100M+ jackpots for them.  Besides the odds of winning are the same regardless of the jackpot size.

jarasan's avatarjarasan

Well now, this begs the question: Were they QP's or not?

Jester

lmatlaw

Quote: Originally posted by jarasan on Oct 11, 2007

Well now, this begs the question: Were they QP's or not?

Jester

They were not quick picks. Ilive in Denver and the local media repoted that the numbers were chosen by the person who won.

POWERBALLPOOL's avatarPOWERBALLPOOL

The more people play a game the more they win.you say add balls less people win,this makes you happy?you must work for msl

Ladyluck2005's avatarLadyluck2005

I knew I should have played yesterday!  It was my birthday & I live in the Denver area.  Drat!

 

Congrats to the winner 

LckyLary

Quote: Originally posted by tony95 on Oct 11, 2007

Powerball has been hit 4 of the last 5 draws!!! I thought this was statistically impossible?  Has someone found a flaw in the game?

You need to find out if all of those wins were QP or selection? Recently someone played the most frequent Lotto numbers and had 4+1. If these were mostly QP then it must be that a lot of people are playing a lot more after the recent big jackpots or people somehow have more $ to play. Anyway this shows that there IS plenty of interest in Powerball and Mega Millions at least now. I HOPE some of those wins were selections, that would give ME hope.

lmatlaw

Quote: Originally posted by LckyLary on Oct 11, 2007

You need to find out if all of those wins were QP or selection? Recently someone played the most frequent Lotto numbers and had 4+1. If these were mostly QP then it must be that a lot of people are playing a lot more after the recent big jackpots or people somehow have more $ to play. Anyway this shows that there IS plenty of interest in Powerball and Mega Millions at least now. I HOPE some of those wins were selections, that would give ME hope.

In a earlier reply I mentioned that I live in the Denver Area and the local media reported that for this drawing the numbers were chosen by the player and were not quick picks. I don't know about the earlier drawings.

POWERBALLPOOL's avatarPOWERBALLPOOL

The game sold $2,821,073,017 in FY06 (July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006).

The game sold $2,503,651,244 in FY07.

I could create a report for the monthly sales, but it is pretty much worthless since sales depend on the jackpot amount.  You might as well divide by 12.

the poplulation of the united states 299,398,484

we know not everyone bought one ticket.

so people that bought bought many.

im going to buy 42 because it increases my chances of winning by 100 million or so.

the game isnt easy,many play,trust me they dont like winners,they have better sales when the pool is larger...

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