There is a one in 146 million chance that someone would match all six numbers drawn in a Powerball game.
One of the tickets sold in West Virginia for the Powerball game Saturday night beat those astronomical odds to win the $276.3 million jackpot.
The game's cash option, should the winner choose it, is worth $139,421,731.
The ticket matched all six numbers drawn, which were: 6, 22, 42, 43, 47 and 16 as the Powerball. The Power Play number was 2.
Nearly 2 million other players won prizes totaling more than $12 million.
Tickets that match the first five numbers but miss the Powerball win $200,000 each, and there were 12 of those. They were sold in: Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky (2), Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina (2), Pennsylvania (3) and Wisconsin.
There were two Power Play Match 5 winners: one each in the states of Iowa and North Carolina.
The prize goes to an estimated $15 million for Wednesday.
For more information about Powerball, including jackpot analysis, how to play, where to play, news, and all past results, go to www.usamega.com.
Hey, Brother...can I get my 2 bucks back (with interest)?
Please dont tell me jack whitaker hit again.........................lol
congrats to the winner
I hope my friend in WV won. Although so far no excited phone call unless they didn't check tickets yet. I better contact them! They didn't say where it was sold. Jack Whittaker did indeed win $10K in Powerball on of all days, my birthday last January! When he won in 2002, I had been visiting WV the weekend before and had played Powerball of course so was temporarily very excited hearing the next morning 1 winner in WV. Since JW still plays 100 tkts/drawing he has a better chance than I.
You beat me to the punch...my sentiments exactly!
Just got word that 8 or 9 women from the Monongalia County Courthouse tax office won-Way to go!
If that's true. Cool. I think a group winning this size of jackpot would be nice.
Like I have said, the odds mean nothing, because somebody is going to win the jackpot.
Good news is that if we win on wednesday drawing nobody will care because this person(s) won such a large amount and the previous winner from january hasnt claimed yet.
That's the good news haha,
Bad news is, we didnt win
dang i got three numbers
WTG to the winner(s) Dreams can come true.
I love it when county or state workers win as a group. They are so underpaid and neglected. This is about the fourth group I have heard of that type win some kind of lottery in a pool. Congrats to all.
Jack Whittacker is still playing the lottery?
Did he blow all of that money or something?
Most likely a ploy to get people off his back.
Interesting situation, makes one wonder why they buy for all drawings and dont win, yet somebody or persons that has never played before can all of a sudden win what you were going for, for just one dollar and you spend 20 and more. We say were not envious individuals and wish them luck but thats not how you really feel is it. You guys have been playing for years and some of us just got into this lottery concept just recently like myself. One imagines a grand life for the near future and reserve this newfound abundance with gratuity and sanity. To have someone just relieve you of this with ease such as a "leaf blowing in the subtle wind" must have a distraught emotion on your person does it not. We hide behind this mask of civil obediance for what, just to give our advantagous peer the illusion of happiness and longing. As I have said before, this is an interesting situation, different yet interesting none the less.
Congrats to the lucky winner/s!
Okay, I'll go ahead and say it...it truly is bad that I didn't win that jackpot. And it really blows that an office pool won. I like stories of a single winner winning that kind of a big jackpot...makes for a more interesting story whether that person will squander the winnings or invest and spend wisely. I could care less about how a person is going to spoil their children and grandchildren. Who cares about the kind of toy you'll buy. Just be quiet and enjoy your winnings in peace. Don't wave the ticket around in all the losers faces...if I'm nearby, I might just snatch it and run (just kidding)!
This can not be happening...
Do you see the irony of the latest movie "Batman"
people don't pay me no attention i am just rambling...
I was kind of sad at first, but it's all luck so I don't think about it much after it's over. I just know that I got to keep trying and maybe one day it will be my turn. I am actually glad to see a group of people win because that is alot of money and it has helped a good amount of people not just won person. I never understand why people feel that more then one person winning is such a bad thing.
There was only one winning ticket so lots people are saying it would be better if there were more winning tickets on a $275 million jackpot, but would they say the same thing if they had that a winning ticket?
When the Ohio lotto was 6/40 with a starting jackpot of $1 million there were many jackpots with multiple winners of 5 or more. There was only one winning ticket when a jackpot was $1,536,984 and 2 drawings later, there were 15 winning tickets on a $2,689,920 jackpot so timing was everything. Compared to the previous jackpot winner, having more winners was a bad thing.
One can't worry about offending losers because there will always be losers even if there are no lottery winners.
The odds are misleading because it is based on having only one ticket in the drawing, most people on a big jackpot played multiple tickets, and especially a group. I like if a group wins because more people are made happy and usually you don't hear horror stories because no one person gets all the attentions. Also, Jack Whittaker in an interview last year I think said that he keeps playing just to show that he can, or something to that effect. The story of him winning 10K I only saw on the WV Lottery site under Winners, otherwise it was nowhere else to be found. And even the location is weird because "Rocky Gap" normally means Maryland (maybe just south of the resort?) and very far from his usual "territory". I guess any good stories about JW get buried or ignored?
"15 winning tickets on a $2,689,920 jackpot " -Was that before taxes or after. Ouch, that got to hurt!
Before taxes and before the cash option.