It's the largest prize in the Maryland Lottery's history
By Kate Northrop
An anonymous group stepped forward to claim a record $731.1 million Powerball jackpot drawn on Jan. 20, 2021, the sixth-largest jackpot in the U.S. and the longest roll in Powerball history with 36 consecutive drawings.
A group of anonymous winners dubbed "The Power Pack" finally came forward to claim the Maryland Lottery's largest jackpot.
As many would expect, the group chose to take the prize as a one-time lump sum cash option, a jaw-dropping $546.8 million, or about $366.6 million after federal and state taxes.
The lone winning ticket for the Jan. 20 Powerball drawing was purchased by one member of The Power Pack at the Coney Market grocery store on Lower Georges Creek Road in Lonaconing, a small town in Northwest Maryland bordering Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, the store received a $100,000 bonus for selling the Quick Pick, the only ticket the group purchased for that drawing.
The Power Pack member who purchased the ticket had the honors of discovering they had just won hundreds of millions of dollars and checked it over and over. Still in disbelief, he told his group, "This can't be right. I'm going to work."
Rest assured, the matching numbers on the ticket were as right as could be.
As the group claimed their prize from the Maryland Lottery, they told Lottery officials that they don't have any plans to change their current lifestyles. According to the Lottery, they are looking to invest the money to take care of their families and positively impact their communities "for generations to come."
"We are thrilled that the jackpot has been claimed, and we couldn't be happier for the winners," Maryland Lottery and Gaming Managing Director of Communications Carole Gentry said. "The prize generated nearly $49 million in tax revenue for the state, so everyone in Maryland wins."
The Powerball win easily eclipsed the previous record in Maryland Lottery history, a $218.6 million share of a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot claimed anonymously by The Three Amigos in the Mar. 30, 2012 drawing.
The jackpot was claimed four months after the drawing, but there was still plenty of time left to come forward. As lottery players in Maryland have 182 days after the draw date to claim prizes, The Power Pack had until July 21.
The winning numbers for the Jan. 20, 2021 Powerball jackpot were 40, 53, 60, 68, and 69, with Powerball number 22. The Power Play multiplier was 3. The odds of hitting the jackpot are 1 in about 292 million.
The next Powerball drawing will take place Saturday night at 10:59 pm EST for a $253 million jackpot.
Powerball is played in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 pm EST. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
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Todd a well written article. Had forgotten all about this drawing until the article was read and media coverage of that small town. Does sound like locals which makes this huge win even better news IMHO.
Anonymity- that is the way to go when claiming a jackpot prize of that magnitude. Out here our lottery is forcing one to show up in either a gorilla suit or Nixon mask.
Raising both arms in a V shape with a victory sign is..optional.
Color me skeptical. Group play but the only purchase was a single quick pick ticket for a 731 million drawing? Me thinks the group was formed after the win which is all the more impressive as to the decency of the ticket purchaser. Congratulations to the winners!
Would somebody with the wherewithal please let us know if this exciting "The Power Pack" is an LLC (or what it's officially registered as)?
My reading comprehension might be bad but where does it say that the one person from the group bought just one ticket. Doesn't the lone ticket mean that only one ticket matched the lucky numbers and no one else had those numbers, therefore the lone ticket statement. The article didn't state how many tickets that one person from the group bought.
"...for selling the Quick Pick, the only ticket the group purchased for that drawing."
My apologies I really didn't see that sentence
The lone ticket can have several lines on it and one of the lines was the winning one.
Congrats to the Lucky group, enjoy.
Outstanding win!!! Congrats to all of you. Looking forward to the day that I am in the same position.
Well done Power Pack. 👍
No, a lone ticket means it was only one ticket with one set of numbers on it. The article also says it was "was the only ticket" the group purchased which was a quick pick. The conclusion being one person purchased a $2 dollar quick pick, realized at some point he/she won the 731 million dollar jackpot. Upon thinking about the win, became afraid to have that much money all to themselves, decided to asks family/friends to form the group "The Power Pack". All of this from one $2 QP ticket. Goes to show, it does only take one set of numbers to win... It just gives one better odds to have more than one set of numbers on a ticket. So depending on how many people are in The Power Pack group, 8 people technically contributed 25 cents each, if 4 people are in the group they contributed 50 cents each for a cut of 336 million dollars after taxes. The best $2 ever spent....Congratulations to the winner(s)
Well......if you say so.
I can only say that when I bought tix for my work pool, I bought A TICKET. That ONE ticket would have several lines of numbers on it. There were 8 people in the pool. Each one kicked in $2. I would buy one ticket that had 8 lines, each having unique sets of numbers.
Only one line could win.