The key facts
- The 847-million-dollar jackpot is the ninth largest in Powerball history and the second largest in New Jersey
- The winner may remain anonymous under state law; as of November 5, no one had claimed the prize
- The store's 30-thousand-dollar bonus will go to a food charity program
A jackpot at an ordinary supermarket
An unknown shopper in the US state of New Jersey won a Powerball jackpot of 847 million dollars by buying a ticket from a machine at a Wegmans supermarket in the town of Montvale. The state lottery reported this. According to the News 12 television channel, the purchase was made on November 3 at 10:46 a.m., and already the next evening the ticket matched all six numbers: 15, 34, 41, 53, 56 and the additional number 21. The odds of such a match are roughly one in 292 million.
How much the winner will actually receive
There is a significant difference between the announced amount and the actual payout. The winner will have to choose: receive the full amount in installments over 29 years, or accept a one-time payment of 363.1 million dollars — and that is before taxes, the organizers warn. As of November 5, no one had come forward to claim the prize. Moreover, New Jersey law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous, so the name of the fortune's owner may never become public. Lottery officials advised the lucky winner to sign the ticket, photograph it, and consult lawyers and financial advisers.
The historic scale of the win
The jackpot became the ninth largest in the entire history of Powerball and the second largest in the history of New Jersey lotteries. Just three months earlier, in August, an even bigger prize was drawn in Illinois — 1.04 billion dollars. The Wegmans supermarket is entitled to a bonus of 30 thousand dollars for selling the winning ticket; according to local media, employees decided to direct it to a charitable program helping those in need, connected with the New Jersey food bank.
A similar story from Michigan
Life.ru previously reported on an American who carried a winning one-million-dollar ticket in his wallet for almost two months without knowing it. Michigan resident Michael Vander Lugt discovered his luck by accident: he was short of cash for a soda and decided to check his old tickets hoping for a small amount. It turned out that back in August he had matched five main Powerball numbers. He plans to spend the money on paying off his mortgage and on investments.
