By Todd Northrop
It will be a Mother's Day unlike any other for one lucky New Jersey household.
One winning ticket purchased in New Jersey matched the numbers drawn on Saturday night for the multi-state Powerball jackpot for a payout estimated at $429.6 million, the eighth-largest U.S. lottery prize in history.
The winning numbers selected at 10:59 p.m. EDT were 5, 25, 26, 44, and 66, with Powerball number 9. The Power Play multiplier was 2.
According to New Jersey Lottery officials, security procedures prevent the lottery from disclosing the exact retailer location where the winning ticket was purchased until Monday, May 9th. However the lottery did state that the winning ticket was sold in Mercer County.
"Winning the Powerball jackpot is a life-changing event. Congratulations to the ticketholder(s) and to the retailer who sold it," said Carole Hedinger, New Jersey Lottery executive director. "The winner and the retailer that sold this $429.6 million winning ticket will be added to the national Lottery historical record."
It was the largest jackpot for any U.S. lottery since January, when three Powerball tickets split a record $1.6 billion grand prize.
"We expect that the winner or winners will take their time before claiming the prize and consult with the appropriate professionals that can assist them in navigating these unchartered waters," Hedinger said. "Certainly though, we will be anxiously awaiting the phone call."
A spate of late ticket-buying on Saturday increased the jackpot by some $15 million, to an estimated $429.6 million. That bump-up also incremented the ranking for this jackpot to the 8th-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history, surpassing a $425.3 million Powerball jackpot won in California on Feb. 19, 2014. Days ago it was ranked as the 9th-largest.
This morning several media outlets are reporting incorrectly that the jackpot is still the 9th-largest of all time. Also, some lottery spokespersons have been wrongly stating that the jackpot is the result of 17 rollovers. It is actually the result of 18 rollovers.
The lump-sum cash value of the jackpot was increased from its initial estimate to approximately $284 million, still the 7th-largest is U.S. lottery history.
In addition to the New Jersey jackpot winner, last night 7 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 1 from California, 2 from Illinois, 3 from New York, and 1 from Virginia.
The California second-prize winner will be awarded $1,299,421, because California does not award fixed prizes. By law, California awards all prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning the prizes will change each drawing based on the number of tickets sold and the number of tickets that won at each prize level.
None of the second-prize winners had purchased the Power Play option for an extra $1 per play, which would have automatically doubled their prize to $2 million.
Power Play is not available in California, because the fixed nature of the prize increase offered in Power Play is not compatible with California's pari-mutuel payouts.
61 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $50,000. Of those tickets, 9 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $100,000, and 11 of the tickets were sold in California, where the prize was worth $17,773 this drawing.
Powerball is played in 44 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Powerball jackpot resets to $40,000,000 for the next drawing to be held Wednesday, May 11.
UPDATE
The New Jersey Lottery has released the retailer that sold the winning ticket. It is 7-Eleven, located at 750 Chambers Street in Trenton. The ticket was purchased with the cash option, making it worth $284 million as a lump-sum cash payment, minus taxes.
"Congratulations to 7-Eleven for selling this winning ticket and to the fortunate ticketholder who purchased the ticket," said Carole Hedinger, New Jersey Lottery executive director. "We look forward to meeting the winner of this record-setting jackpot."
Congratulations to the winner, winners.
I hope that they use sound advise and caution in their new future.
And another pot blocker wins my Powerball again. No congrats.
A little snack for the conspiracy people,
the ticket was sold in Mercer county...home of Jersey lottery H/Q
LOL !
"Pot blocker" Ain't that the truth...
But congrats where congrats are due!
So if this jackpot was the result of 18 rollovers, then people are truly burnt out from the 1.6 billion run....
I may be wrong, but I thought that was the result of 19 roll overs.
It was, but you also have to take into account the time of year the jackpot was rolling. Around Christmas, a lot more people buy lottery tickets, sending jackpots higher quicker. The closer we get to Summer, the slower sales typically become. So this was a pretty good run-up.
Perhaps it was an LP forum member that won it. Hoping it was Golfer1960 or maybe even our head window washer Todd. If it was Todd he is pretty coy about and understandably so.
Mercer County is also near Harvard and about 50 miles away from golfer1960's hometown.
If you weren't In It: You didn't Win It!
Congrats to the Winner!
One of my tickets had one number plus the powerball to win $4
You win $4 for just getting the powerball number. I think you should win more if you get one plus the powerball number.
They need to revamp the payout for the lower tier prizes.
Congrats to the winning ticket holder(s)
Frequently Asked Questions - Disclosures/Public Record
I won a prize; can I claim it anonymously or use a trust or LLC?
Don't forget to buy Chris Christie a dozen doughnuts with the loot.
If there are any legal eagles out there, can New Jersey winners maintain their anonymity by claiming through a trust?
The five main numbers were on my "generic" 3 million combinations, so then with the powerball it would have taken 78 million combinations to get the jackpot, unless I had reduced the 3 million more and also the powerball numbers, but I am not set to do such thing, it would take me a few months of study to be able to do such things in the future if I wanted to, but at this time I am not yet so interested in Jackpot games, but reducing 11 million to 3 million that was easy, but for getting generic numbers that are good for very many drawings I can't reduce the 11 million no more, those 3 million are the numbers that come out the most often for the five main numbers of the powerball game.
Mr./Ms. Jacintasc,
Too funny. I've never thought of it that way. I just expect it's never going to be me, that's going to win the jp.
Mr. Groppo
Congrats to the winner , i guess the lottery gods don't like the south from winning the lottery!
well thars only about the even dozen people on here that I'd like to see win ,including me
but Todd most of all
You're kidding, right? The south has had a considerable winning record.
It's so good, in fact, if you look back on Lottery Post, a few weeks, you'll see how
they've started to turn on each other, like wild dogs, with physical confrontation, in attempts to gain another's prize money.
No i am not kidding , it feels that seems like if u live in the northeast or the midwest , we see more huge jackpot winners. Especially not in the North Carolina , Virginia , South Carolina, Georgia. I was referring to those states. The northeast and midwest have more people that tend to play more. So that means more tickets being sold , giving them better odds , than we do. Which statically is true.
U mean Princeton.
Only 1 winner which means more cash for that winner
Yes, that's normally what happens when there is only one winner.
Well OK,
but can I hold the big check up in front of my face when they take pictures ?
No surprise that new jersey got it. "Round robin" again this year like usual.
You gotta wonder what New Jersey's state lottery is like.
If they have a 5+0 game they likely have dozens or even hundreds of winners per drawing.
Awww...Thank you Drenick1 for your kind wishes but unfortunately it wasn't me (dagnabit)! I hope you win someday too!!
I guess I start buying MM tickets next! Good luck to you too!!!
Thank you as I had a brain fart. Princeton or Harvard in my opinion are similar snob institutions.
I hope it's a round robin year for NJ. I want a gigantic solo jackpot. Could you "pickone4me"?
Hmm, Hmm...that's right!
That's a total joke 1 winner
That's why I don't bother with playing it
Well, I wasn't in it, so I didn't win anything...
I wish I could say I spent only $4 a week. : (
Heck, I wish I could claim that I spent only $4 a day on both major lottos : ((
That's waiting in line to be screwed.
I wish my county would reward me at the end of the year, for having spent so much on unsuccessful lottos.
Like maybe a few bags of groceries. Yes, it's my own doggone fault when I go overboard and spend more than I have.
I have only recent begun to save all old tickets, after having discarded many.
"Dat sho' am a lotto money I spint".
"Dat be money I ain't neba gwinna git agin".
Next stop July if nobody hits it before then.
I didn't have any tickets for the draw so I won for not losing!
Since the matrix change I tried my luck on 3 tickets on 3 different draws and got zippo.
PB pretty much made the statement that they are a Jackpot only game on their last matrix change.
I don't know when I will buy tickets but at least I know it will have to get over $430 mil. I'm considering jumping in at $600 mil or $750 mil next time.
Until that happens I will be playing other games.
Ha!
You admit we got screwed! Love it!
UPDATE!
The news story has been updated with the retailer that sold the winning ticket, as well as the payout method chosen by the ticket buyer.
I saved all my losers for a year. After a year I added them all up and...
Then I saved them for the following year and...
But I still came out ahead... 
I couldn't agree with u more. You'll be surprised how many snobs' kids get into ivy league schools because their mommy and daddy work there or went there, like Obama's daughter.
Like I said last night I won $8 but spent $15 to get last night. Usually I lose though so today I spent $2 towards the mega millions jackpot for tuesday night. I think that jackpot is fly under the radar because everyone will want to see the $429.6 million winner. So me with a $150 million and oregon first jackpot for mega millions will be no news at all.-weshar75
Well I guess I'll try my luck with MegaMillions this week. I was honestly feeling kinda lucky on this Powerball run.
Granted, 1+1 is a nothing win, sort of. But, it's old news. The reason 1+1 is nothing is so the jackpots can grow bigger faster. And despite some saying the jackpots are too big, nobody needs that much money, yada,yada,yada, the fact is, big jackpots sell more tickets. Which is why they made the changes.
Personally, I obviously want to win the whole enchilada, but the fact of the matter for me, anyway, is that 2nd prize with the megapiler/powerplay is instant retirement. I don't even need to win the whole enchilada. And while the odds of hitting 2nd prize is still high, they're not as bad as Texas Lotto which is almost 1 in 26 million. So....I'm in every draw.
To each his own.
Normally it's nice to know a single ticket won.
normally being the operative word.
When uncles Sam and nj clear out half thru taxing.. It just deflates the joy in this for the winner.
Its a matter of facts... Would you really be overjoyed writing Uncle Sam 75 million? Not me...
Anyhoos the person can live well .. So blessings to them...
Winners should never be forced to pay taxes on lottery winnings. There is absolutely no legitimate reasons why lottery winnings should be taxed. You already pay income, state, sales taxes and some other taxes you are not even aware of. Why do you think that they take 25-33% off the top before even cutting you a check?.
They are apprehensive of the fact that some winners will take the money and run. Take the current NJ WINNER, that individual will end up paying $80m or more in taxes. YIKES. With that $80m, I can send all the kids in my area to college for free, buy them their first homes with a car in each garage and still have enough money left to have fun with. ALL I'M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT LOTTERY WINNINGS SHOULD NEVER BE TAXED. Winners can spend it more wisely than the fed. or state governments.
"Would you really be overjoyed writing Uncle Sam 75 million?"
Since I'm not an idiot, yes. Writing a check that big would mean I still had a bit over $100 million in the bank.
The NJ winner may wish they could keep more for themselves, but I guarantee they'll be a lot happier writing that check to the IRS than they'd be if they were a loser whining on the internet about somebody else's tax bill.
For me, and winning that amount from the powerball, it would not be a problem paying the taxes. The example was, paying 75 million in taxes and than having 100 million in the bank, mmmmmmmm, nope it would not take away any joy.
I am curious what time of the day did the person buy the winning ticket?
I can tell you all it wasn't me. However I have candy machines towards that 7-11. I live about half hour - 40 minutes from there.
The ticket was bought sometime on a Tuesday and it was a woman. I know for a fact. The woman customer is a regular to that store. Not sure though anything of the woman. However if that person is smart enough they will do three things.
I wish my dad was alive and I would give you a better answer. Unfortunately he passed away back in Feb.
Okay lets see. We don't know what her income bracket was, we don't know anything about the person.
Here is my thing about the lottery. When someone hits there should be some circumstances as to what the person should do first. Cash option. So you're telling me you would give that amt away. Not so fast.
I'm witholding my congrats to the winner for now, until the win is determined fair. The NJ PB will be investigated for fraud. Check the number of PB & MEGA jackpot winners.
Pick different friends, particularly ones that understand that the moment you have money taken, you are not "having more".
I sincerely doubt that genuine honesty on this answer would result in "yes I would be overjoyed to give 75 million".
But then I live in the factual data , its that old silly accounting lifestyle.
this logic is what keeps the govt in your pockets....
Actually the winning ticket was bought from a 7-11 in Trenton. I can assure u there aren't whole lot of yuppy snobs there.
l think you misunderstood my answer. How about an example. Let's say you have been playing the lottery for decades, and being on the losing end all those years. Then One Day your ship comes in- let's say the very ship that came in for this lucky winner From NJ. Given the millions that you end up " keeping"- do you as a now multi millionaire look back on all those years that you lost and say " l think l must have wagered at least $20,000 before l hit it big, so even though l end up with millions, l think it unfair that Uncle Sam is taking a decent chunk out of my winnings. " My original point stands : You ending up with more money than you started out with. There is no milk to cry over. Btw- Uncle Sam is here to stay, get used to it.
You're probably right. I doubt any of those snobs could set foot inside a 7-11 as it would be beneath them.
Got 2 numbers from last PB drawing. just 4 away from being a millionaire. Anybody matched any numbers.