Someone bought a Powerball jackpot ticket for $768.4 million in this ‘tight-knit’ town
This story was updated March 29 to include the name of the store where the ticket was sold.
That $768.4 million Powerball jackpot was won by someone who bought the ticket in the town of New Berlin, in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin Lottery.
For the millions of Americans who have no idea where that is, it’s a Milwaukee suburb of 39,000 people in eastern Wisconsin.
The winner beat odds of 1 in 292,201,338.00, officials said.
His or her identify was not announced Thursday. The winner bought the ticket at the Speedway convenience store on West Beloit Road, about “15 miles southwest of downtown Milwaukee,” said state lottery officials. The store will get $100,000 as a “ticket incentive,” officials said.
The win marks Powerball’s second-highest jackpot ever, and the third biggest in U.S. Lottery history, said lottery officials in a press release.
Wisconsin Lottery officials called it “an amazing milestone moment” for the state.
“It truly is incredible to think that the winning ticket for this historic jackpot was sold in our own backyard,” said a statement issued by Wisconsin Lottery Director Cindy Polzin.
“I am extremely excited for the winners and for our state,” she continued. “This event puts us in the national spotlight and turns Wisconsin into WINsconsin.”
The winning numbers were: 16, 20, 37, 44, 62, with the Powerball number was 12, officials said.
New Berlin is a 50-year-old town that describes itself as “tight-knit,” according to its website. “Residents join together for holiday parades and youth sporting events,” says the site.
North Carolina had a $1 million winner announced Tuesday, when gospel singer Lloyd Dockery of Lowell, N.C., took home $707,501 after paying state and federal tax withholding. He said he intended to pay off his mortgage and buy a new guitar with the money.
News of the massive win comes just weeks after a woman in South Carolina stepped forward to claim the $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot, which was the biggest “payout to a single winner in U.S. history,” reported The State in Columbia, S.C.
The woman, who has remained anonymous, bought the ticket Oct. 23 in Simpsonville.
This story was originally published March 28, 2019 at 7:17 AM with the headline "Someone bought a Powerball jackpot ticket for $768.4 million in this ‘tight-knit’ town."