Powerball Winning Numbers: Someone In New Hampshire Won $570 Million Jackpot

The Powerball jackpot worth $570 million found its winner after it was announced that a ticket matching the winning numbers was sold in New Hampshire. The winning ticket, which matched all six numbers (12-29-30-33-61-26) drawn Saturday night, was sold at a store in Merrimack, less than 30 miles from the capital city of Concord.

The owner of Reeds Ferry Market, a small and independent convenience store, could not believe that he sold the winning ticket. Sam Safa said that he doesn’t know the identity of the winner, but hopes one of the regulars won the nation’s seventh-largest lottery jackpot.

“I’m very excited and overwhelmed,” Safa said, adding that by selling the ticket it felt like he himself had won. The store will receive a $75,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

Powerball tickets are sold for $2 and can be purchased in 44 states including the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Washington D.C. Players need to pick five lucky numbers from 1 to 69 and one Powerball number from 1 to 26 on a Powerball play slip.

How to claim the prize:

The winning ticket is first validated by a Powerball retailer or through the lottery headquarters.The winning ticketholder or holders can choose the annuity option in which payments are made over in 30 installments over 29 years, with each annual payment increasing over time. However, most choose the cash option, which in this case would be $358.5 million.

The largest Powerball jackpot was $1.6 billion split among winners in California, Florida, and Tennessee in January 2016. The record Powerball winner for a single ticket buyer is $758 million, won by a Massachusetts woman in August last year. She received a lump-sum payment of $480 million after choosing the cash option. That same year, another New Hampshire player won the $487 million jackpot.

The Powerball jackpot win came just a day after the winning Mega Millions ticket was announced from Friday night’s drawing. The winning ticket for Mega Millions was bought at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Port Richey, the Florida Lottery said. The retailer will receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the ticket.

The winning numbers to claim the Mega Millions jackpot were 28-30-39-59-70-10.

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot is 1 in 292 million, while the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is 1 to 302.6 million.

After the winning tickets are sold, the prizes for both lotteries are back down to $40 million, with drawings scheduled Tuesday for Mega Millions and Wednesday for Powerball. If no winners are named, the prize money continues to grow.

An average American spends about $200 a year on lottery tickets. However, residents of some states spend far more. According to a study by LendEDU, an average Massachusetts resident spends $735 annually on lottery tickets while those in Rhode Island spend $514 a year. People of Delaware or New York likely spend about $400 a year, or $33 per month.