Who won the $429 million Powerball in New Jersey? (Powerball)
The Powerball jackpot is going to be starting all over again at $40 million on Wednesday. The jackpot got all the way up to $429 million on Saturday, but one person walked away with the win. The biggest jackpot that Powerball ever had was worth $1.5 billion in January. But three people won that, splitting that jackpot at $528 million among them. So Saturday’s winner only took home about $100 million less than the big billion-dollar jackpot winners got in January. Who is the big winner?
Here’s what we know so far.
One winning ticket for the $429 million Powerball was sold in New Jersey. This was the largest jackpot since the big $1.6 billion one in January. Kelly Cripe, a Powerball spokesman, said one ticket that was sold in New Jersey took home the entire win and was the only jackpot winner for the whole thing. The winning ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Trenton, New Jersey on Tuesday at 5:20 p.m. The store owner, Andrea Shin, won $30,000 for selling a winning ticket. She said that the winner might be one of her regular customers.
As far as when we’ll find out who the winner is, it might be a long time. The exact time that a winner has to come forward and claim his or her prize varies depending on the state. In New Jersey, the winner has to turn in claims for $599.50 or more with the New Jersey Lottery Headquarters. Winners have one year to claim their prize from the date of the drawing.
This means it could be this time next year before we know who won the $429 million jackpot.
In Chino Hills, California, where one of the three winning $1.5 billion tickets were drawn in January, the winner still has not come forward. They have a year to claim their prize in California, too. The other two lottery winners had quicker deadlines in their states.
Since it looks like only one person won the jackpot, this means the winner won’t be splitting the jackpot with anyone. If he or she chooses to take home the lump sum, they will get about $270 million, before taxes. You can watch the drawing for Saturday night below:
The odds of winning the Powerball were only one in about 292.2 million.
