$285.6 Million Powerball Ticket Sold in Florida
One Florida Powerball player is waking up millions of dollars better off, after a single ticket sold in Jacksonville won the entire $285.6 million jackpot last night. It's the 16th time the Sunshine State has taken the game's top prize.
The lucky ticket was sold at Circle K, located at 721 Chaffee Road South in Jacksonville, and matched all the Powerball numbers drawn on Saturday, June 5: 44, 52, 54, 64, 69 and the red Powerball, 26. The store will enjoy a $100,000 bonus.
The ticket was a Quick Pick, where the lottery computer randomly chooses the numbers, definitively answering the question "Do Powerball Quick Picks ever win?"
The winner has the choice to take the full advertised prize as an annual annuity or receive a single cash option payment of $196.7 million. For the annuity, they have 180 days from the draw date to claim, but if they want the lump sum, the deadline shrinks to 60 days until the ticket expires.
Another big winner on Saturday was a ticket worth $2 million sold in Puerto Rico that hit all five white balls to score the Match 5 second prize. That would normally be $1 million, but because the player added the Powerplay multiplier to the ticket, its value doubled to $2 million.
Meanwhile, it's been just over a week since the fourth-biggest jackpot in Powerball history was claimed by an anonymous Maryland group, who won the $731.1 million prize on January 20.
Second consecutive Powerball jackpot won in FL
Last night's win was the second time in a row the game's top prize has been hit by a ticket sold in the Sunshine State! 23-year-old Land O' Lakes resident Thomas Yi was the lucky winner of $235.4 million on March 27 - he's also the youngest-ever Powerball winner in Florida.
Yi told Lottery officials he was "in disbelief" when he checked his ticket. The good news finally sunk in and he received a one-time cash payment of $160,038,447 payout. Despite his amazing windfall, the winner is keeping to a sensible plan, saying he will study business.
Floridians buy more Powerball tickets than almost anywhere else, and they've been rewarded with a lot of luck. Two Melbourne Beach winners shared one-third of the largest prize in lottery history, $1.6 billion, in 2016, while the biggest win on a single ticket went to a Zephyrhills resident in 2013.
Wednesday Powerball jackpot
The current Powerball jackpot has reset to its starting value of $20 million (cash option $13.8 million) for the next draw on Wednesday.
This summer, fans of the game will have a third chance to win every week when a Monday drawing is added starting August 23.
The biggest jackpot offered this week is Mega Millions - a top prize of $56 million (cash option of $38.3 million) is up for grabs on Tuesday.
Tickets for both draws are available now - good luck!
Published: Sunday, June 6, 2021Updated: Tuesday, June 8, 2021