Powerball: Arkansas Lottery gets its first Powerball jackpot winnerJust two months after the first Powerball ticket was sold in Arkansas, the state has produced its first jackpot winner.
The 29-year, 30-installment annuity jackpot was $25 million, which can also be claimed as a $12,153,621 million cash option. The net payout after the automatic 25% federal tax withholdings for the cash option would be $9,115,216. Arkansas does not withhold state tax from lottery prize payouts.
The lucky jackpot win for one Arkansas player comes despite the fact that typically only about 4% of all Powerball winners from all prize categories are sold in Arkansas.
To illustrate the long odds on this accomplishment, three states — Maine, North Dakota, and Vermont — plus the U.S. Virgin Islands have never even had a single jackpot winner in a combined 51 years of participation.
The winning numbers drawn in Saturday night's Powerball drawing were 3, 7, 23, 27, and 42, with a Powerball of 37.
The Power Play multiplier, which increases non-jackpot prizes for tickets purchased with the extra $1 option, was 3.
The Arkansas lottery started selling scratch-off tickets, then added Powerball ticket sales Oct. 31 and Cash 3 ticket sales Dec. 14. It plans to begin selling tickets to the Mega Millions game Jan. 31.
Updated Jan. 3, 2010, 7:53 p.m.: Montana did in fact have one winner in its Powerball history — on Mar. 27, 1999. Therefore, the story has been updated to accurately reflect that three states (not four), plus the U.S. Virgin Islands, with a combined 51 years of participation (not 69), have never had a jackpot winner.
