Includes video report
Update: Cash value was second-highest ever for any US lottery game
Update 2: Cash value reported by MUSL was wrong! Actually $224.6 million.
By Todd Northrop, with wire reports
LAPEER, Mich. — A gas station in a small Michigan city is buzzing with excitement after the state lottery announced Thursday that a $337 million jackpot-winning Powerball ticket was sold there.
The Michigan Lottery said the ticket was sold in Lapeer, about 45 miles north of Detroit. There wasn't immediate word about the buyer's identity. It was the third biggest Powerball jackpot in the game's history, lottery officials said, and the holder could take home a $224.7 million lump sum.
[Editor's note: The AP published a story today that had wide circulation on the Internet stating that the cash value was $241 million. The cash value for Wednesday's jackpot has been confirmed as $244.7 million by MUSL — $244,655,690.17, to be exact. I have updated the next sentence to reflect the fact that the cash value was the second-highest ever recorded for a US lottery game.]
[Editor's note #2: The cash value reported by MUSL was wrong. The actual cash value of the jackpot was $224,655,690.17. It is the FOURTH-highest cash value recorded in US history, not the second-highest as previously reported.]
The lump-sum cash value is the largest ever for a Powerball jackpot — and the second-highest fourth-highest cash value for any game in US history.
"It's a great day," Mayor Bill Sprague said after pumping gas at the market and Sunoco station, which was the center of the excitement.
Inside, customers who approached the counter to buy coffee, snacks and yes, lottery tickets, offered congratulations to Betr Odish, whose family owns the business.
Odish, 21, said his family has owned the station for two years.
"It's exciting," he said.
Odish, who was working the 2 a.m. to 1 p.m., shift, said a cousin called him around 5 a.m. to give him the good news. The Michigan Lottery said the business will get a $50,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. Odish said he didn't know what his family would do with the money, but he was sure it would be put to good use.
"It'll probably be their best business day," said Sprague, who described his 10,000-resident community as "a nice, hard-working Midwestern town."
The winning numbers in the Wednesday night drawing were 6, 27, 46, 51, 56 and Powerball 21. The holder of the winning ticket has a year to come forward and claim the prize, Michigan Lottery spokeswoman Andi Brancato said. The identity of the ticket holder will be released after they contact the lottery, she said.
Joe Jackson, 57, of Columbus, Ohio, has been in town for the past 10 days selling used cars. Jackson said he purchased two Powerball tickets Wednesday in the same store where the jackpot ticket was sold.
"Should have bought more. I am very upset," he joked.
"It should have been me," Jackson said before fist-bumping an employee and walking out.
VIDEO: How the Powerball lottery works
I am glad it got hit. I had a feeling about 4 of the field of 5 but unfortunately, I didn't sit and put it all together. Guess I need to stop filling out play slips while standing inside the store. Here's hopinthat is a single winner...kills the excitement of late when name your work pool comes forward and we learn that peeps will be just rich, not mega rich.
Now time to go put in my numbers for Saturday, and I hope I hit. I will come forward immediately since I know media is so focused on Michigan. I bet the winner is a Canadian...welcome to paying your fair share of taxes to US.
Congrat's to the new winner, and Michigan!
Probably no doubt this will be taken as a lump sum, would be very surprised if it were not the case.
I'm thinking its a pool, or an occasional player.
Just cause of the size of the JP.
But I'm hoping its a single long time player or family pool.
Lotteries represent redistribution of wealth at its finest. Lotteries redistribute your income through taxable winnings.
Lotteries represent voluntary taxation.
Its certainly a whole lot better than "forced taxation" which is what is being done in countries where citizens are taxed by their Governments. At least with the "voluntary taxation" one has the option to play or not - and if you decided to play, you also get to choose how much you will play. The other way; they take your money when they want to, as much as they want to, and when they feel they need more of your money - they simply increase taxes and take some more of your hard-earned money.
I've always maintained that I will not tolerate direct income tax in my country - NEVER. If the day ever comes that there is income tax in the Bahamas, is the day my bones will be white, as the old folks say. We have enough indirect tax as it is.
The moment citizens of any country allow their Government, or gives them the authority to put their hands in the citizens' pockets/wallets and take their money, is the day I call APRIL FOOLS' DAY - because once you do that, they NEVER stop taking and then they don't know when to stop, they keep going deeper into your pockets. In addition, because they didn't earn that money (it's like taking candy from a baby) then of course, all they do with your hard-earned money is WASTE IT!!!
I am 100 percent certain that if you were to ask the over 300 hundred million people in the U.S. who pay taxes, if it were put to a vote and they were given a choice to pay taxes or not, I'll bet any money that the majority of U.S. citizens, (and for that matter, citizens of any nation that is taxed to the max) I'll bet my bottom dollar that they would opt for NO TAXES PERIOD!!!! I bet, and that would be an easy win - anyday.
I have just updated the news story to reflect the exact cash value reported to me by MUSL — $244,655,690.17. (i.e., $244.7 million.)
It's the second-highest cash value in history — even higher than the $380 million Mega Millions jackpot on Jan. 4, 2011, when the cash value was $240 million. I'm really shocked by that, because Mega Millions almost always has a bigger cash value-to-annuity ratio, because of its fixed annuity (vs. Powerball's annually-increasing annuity), as well as Mega Million's shorter annuity period.
If annuity rates were not doing so poorly as they are in this horrendous economy, the advertised jackpot (annuity) would have been crazy-high.
Cash is always king!
Crazy,
They interviewed someone from my city.
This is a sign!
Sorry for him but, I'll be the next big winner from Columbus.
Congratulations to this jackpot winner. I didn't know this is the highest jackpot in lump sum when they step forward.
I WILL BUY A LOTTERY TICKET SOMEDAY.
Congrat's to the winner!(s) I just bought $10 for Saturday's $40 million drawing. Can't wait!
Congrat's are in order hotslot!
Look forward to seeing you at the lottery headquarters, showing off your oversized trophy check!
They sure did mess up the amount on that oversized check. $31 billion 490 million dollars. Idiots!!!!!!!!!!-weshar75
Nice catch weshar, didn't notice!
Funny thing is, ole' Jack probably would have blown through that cash for $31 billion, quicker than his millions!
Good call "weshar75".. I had to go back and look at the check.
LOL, Weshar, I was just going to say that! $31,490,000,000.00?
Congrats to whoever won in Lapeer. Here's hoping it's not a pool! Nice working class town north of Detroit, too. If I'm remembering right, not much at the freeway exit, so you have to drive into town. So maybe not a passerby filling up gas from the freeway.
Congrats to the lucky winner.
I just hope the MUSL takes out the quick picks, that way the future winners will win honestly.
Oh and whoever the winner, he or she will go broke real fast, just wait and see.
And I would have won 320 mill if they didn't raised the jackpot at the last minute.
I'm hoping on Saturday afternoon, the news article Todd posts will be titled, "45 million Mega Millions jackpot ticket sold at a 7-Eleven convenience store in medium sized California city"
The Northeastern conspiracy continues !
Probably a rich white person from New England won!
Oh wait, it was the Midwest!
Congratulations to the winner/s......
Anyone else pissed ?I am .
""10,000-resident community""...why aren't I shocked
Congrats to the winner, life has seriously changed
No need for urinary expletives. There will be countless thousands of more jackpots to be won in our lifetime.
Think of this as a dress rehearsal, for when the real deal comes along.
Remember patience is a virtue.
I believe Todd would want us all to become lotto guru's.
By them setting the balls back in by hand they change the course of the numbers matrix whereby as some numbers have no chance to be pulled due to the order they were put in the tube.Lottery drives my ass up the wall.
mcginnin 56 , very nice saying- patience is a virtue and a very nice picture of guru nanak dev ji's and good luck to the winner,or a group of winners
I know,,it should have been detroit...but wait, detroit has a lot of.........
congrats to the winners!!
well, lucky him. i dont think ive even won 2 dollars in 8 months in this game of false hopes.
Thank you nanaimo! Appreciate the kind feedback.
Yeah...
Poor joe Jackson. He's cursed by his own name.
I hope whoever won this powerball is not coming forward because he/she is consulting with an attorney. I also hope that he/she has a lot more common sense than what we've seen with some other powerball winners, and doesn't turn into a jack whittaker, dave edwards or Mr. fick.
Someone should do a 5-10 year follow through with this winner, to show the typical problems that arise when someone wins millions. The state governments & the lottery are apparently happily oblivious to the life changing forces that come at a lottery winner hard, which is why they require disclosure of the winner's name & city. If it can be documented how horribly a lottery winners life changes (no privacy, assailed by money grubbing relatives, scam artists, beggars, sellers of high end items, charities, subject to stalking, theft of mail & car, burglary, kidnapping, death threats, lose friends, lose family, etc) by being forced to be a public figure, maybe they can finally stop with this idiotic disclosure requirement.
And, yet, you've taken the time to post 181 separate instances in a lottery forum. Something to think about...
if you're playing to win one of the multi state lottery games and pinning your hopes on it, you're most likely going to be disappointed. The way I like to look at it is a $1 or $2 ticket provides me more excitement and entertainment than most hollywood blockbusters being shown at the local movie theatre at a fraction of the price and yes there is a small possibility I might win.
Hearse that "Star Spangled Banner" recital was an emotional experience for me.
God bless America!!! 
that's nothing. that mcginnin (who lives on here) has posted over 3000 non-sensical posts in just over a year. talk about no life.
tough to screw up winning this amount of money. and impossible for people not to find out whether there is a disclosure law or not. so stop dreaming about being able to win anonymously, it is not even remotely possible to do it.
I have been told the best way to stay as anonymous or almost anonymous is to form a trust and have the trust turn in the winning ticket. Boy 244.6 million cash payout makes the holder up in that 1% of the richest people everyone loves to hate. I hope they leave this country and have some peace in their lives one can dream!!!
I like hearing about major jackpots being won out of some little joint out in the middle of nowhere cuz that's where I buy my tickets.
So if you ever hear of a winner being sold at "Buford's Septic Sludge Pumping & Cafe", it might just be me.
hahaha man it seems you're swinging punches at everyone lately lol what's up with that?
Some people love to discuss lottery topics. I prefer to read than to comment but thats just me. I ain't bothered by active commenters.
They contribute to the conversation and you should thank them otherwise this website would be another boring forum.
I personally like mcginnin56 as he does not drag everything into politics. I come here to escape politics
1) Wrong. You can screw up winning this amount of money; it's been done before. Please google the story of Jack Whittaker, who screwed up winning $312 million.
2) Wrong again. Each state is different with their disclosure laws; some states such as Maryland do not require disclosure of your name when you win the lottery, meaning you can win anonymously based on where you live (ex - see AP story:http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/big_lottery_winners_often_deci.html) . That's what makes it inequitable; people in certain states are exposed to all the hellish problems the lottery generates due to their state's required name disclosure, while others in other states are not. It's pretty easy to look this kind of stuff up before posting, it'll save your being corrected.
If you had ever cashed in a win of any size, you would probably remember it.
People who aren't that smart play lotteries too, their chances of winning are probably as good as the smart ones.
It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone what happens to the ones that aren't that smart, there are all kinds of stories on the Internet about them, just google "lottery winners".
That sure is a HUGE interest rate swing/drop from Saturday to Wednesday! Or, based on their further projections, even more dramatic from only Tuesday to Wednesday.
To simplify, rather than calculating the annuity interest rate for everyone here, just compare the percentage that the cash value is of the jackpot value for the prior week:
Cash Value / Jackpot = Percentage
123 / 181 = 68.0%
142.9 / 212 = 67.4%
170.5 / 253 = 67.4%
203.3 / 305 = 66.7%
213.3 / 320 = 66.7%
Pretty consistent, isn't it? (Albeit, on a downward trend.) Until....
244.7 / 337 = 72.6% !!!
And then, after the reset...
26.7 / 40 = 66.8%
That doesn't make sense. (Although it is to the benefit of the winner... Taking a given jackpot amount, a lower interest rate gives a higher cash value. Granted, it should be calculated from the current cash value to the jackpot amount - a lower interest rate gives a lower jackpot amount - but it is always communicated in the other direction, from jackpot to cash value.)
Something fishy is going on here as interest rates didn't change overnight like that and then bounce right back to where they were. So somebody messed up. Either dishonestly or irresponsibly. If the cash they took in for each draw is accurate, then their jackpot estimate should have been around $360 million, not $337 million.
maringoman, i totally agree with you and i like mcginnin's comments too
It's normal. Every loser is pissed, but you get over it real quick.
I got to thinking... there is another big winner off that stretch of I-69 in Michigan (Flint to Port Huron). I'm not sure of the city, though. Does anyone else remember this? It had to be Mega Millions because MI hasn't had PB all that long, and it was more than 3 or 4 years ago.
I heard they serve some wicked chili there.
I hear they reversed engineered Rdg's receipe
Thank you for the positive input maringoman!
One thing I have always recognized is that we are all one big melting pot of individuals here, who choose to express ourselves in often unique ways.
There are some members who rarely make their views known in the way of a post. Then others such as myself, who comment on lottery topics as
well as the other numerous sides of human events. I'm happy that I do not fit into some convenient cookie cutter mold, of the good little LP member.
For those that are offended by my frequency of comments, whether lottery related or not, I make no apologies. That is my personality, and my take
on life's never ending story of triumphs and tragedies. There is no perfect system to accommodate a forum such as this. My hope would be that we
could learn to tolerate each others views, politics included, agree to disagree, and have a lot of entertaining fun at the same time!
Thank you nanaimo!
I'll be sending you that $20 we discussed, for supporting my positions today.
I was shocked to see the cash value go that high! Prior to the last minute bump to $337 million, the cash value on the $320 million jackpot was $213.3 million. What I find confusing is that the Annuity went up $17 million while the cash value jumped to $244,665,690 a boost of $31.3 million from the previous cash value.
I have the same sentiments as Todd as to the cash value-to-annuity ratio. This was indeed very similar to MM's jackpot-cash value ratio.
Here is a good question....Did he pick his own numbers or did he do an EZ-PICK???
He, she or they, could have played both types of bets. Unless that question comes up during an interview, or it is voluntarily give by the winner(s),
we'll probably never know.
Not enough powerball tickets sold in Detroit. Same with mega millions.
Cash 3 & 4, plus scratch offs almost exclusively.
I just really, REALLY wish we had the lottery in Alabama. It would have been nice to have a shot at it without having to drive out of state to do buy a ticket! Congrats to the big Winner from my home state of Michigan!