Powerball jackpot may jump to nearly $360 million on Saturday, February 7.
The prize would rank as the seventh-largest Powerball jackpot annuity. The game’s record jackpot is a $590.5 million prize won in Florida in May 2013.
Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing brought luck to someone who stopped in to S&R Market on Second Avenue in Hazelwood and paid $2 for a Powerball ticket and an extra $1 for the Power Play option.
The unknown individual is holding a ticket worth $2 million.
“Usually, people when they hit, they don’t run right to the store,” said Stephen Gombas, owner of S&R Market for 23 years.
“They’ll go to the lottery for instructions on how to handle things.”
Stephen Gombas will receive a $10,000 check for selling that ticket.
The number of jackpots hit each year ranges from 11 to 18, meaning there tends to be a winner every three to four weeks. Drawings are held each Wednesday and Saturday night. But now, the country is in a Powerball dry spell of 10 weeks (19 drawings).
During this stretch, however, Pennsylvania Powerball players have won nearly $11.3 million, including four $1 million prizes from the December 6, December 17 and January 17 drawings and February 4’s mystery winner.
That person correctly matched all five white balls drawn — 24-36-51-52-56 — but not the red Powerball 22.
Luckily, that player chose the Power Play option, and doubled the $1 million prize.
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Pedro Quezada, the New Jersey father of five who won a $338 million Powerball jackpot, owes $29,000 in back child support and could be arrested until he pays up, authorities have revealed.
Authorities in Passaic County, New Jersey, where Pedro Quezada lives and owns a bodega, say they paid a visit to the 44-year-old to inform him that he needed to pay up “in a timely manner”.
On Tuesday, Pedro Quezada claimed his winnings in Tenton – a $152 million lump sum after taxes.
Pedro Quezada, the New Jersey father of five who won a $338 million Powerball jackpot, owes $29,000 in back child support and could be arrested until he pays up
Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik told the North Jersey Record that the New Jersey Lottery Division generally pays out a winner’s back taxes and child support before cutting a check.
However, Richard Berdnik said Pedro Quezada still owes money to the mother of his children.
“Like everyone else, until this warrant is satisfied, Mr. Quezada is subject to potential arrest,” the sheriff warned.
Pedro Quezada has five children who range in age from 5 to 23.
During his short public appearance earlier this week, Pedro Quezada said some of his children live with their mother in North Carolina.
Pedro Quezada, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic 26 years ago, said his family was poor, but he did not speak about the financial troubles he had had.
The Record reports that in 2009 Pedro Quezada’s bodega burned down.
That same year, the bank foreclosed on a property he had purchased three years earlier.
Pedro Quezada said he planned to buy himself a new car and get his wife “whatever she wants”.
Neighbors say they saw the family moving out of their apartment in Passaic earlier this week.
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Surveillance footage taken at a gas station in Prince George’s County, Maryland, reportedly shows the moment a Powerball player discovered he had one of the two winning tickets in the $588 million jackpot.
The video shows a construction or highway worker walking into an Exxon in Prince George’s County and checking his ticket, before punching his fists in celebration.
Two tickets bore the winning numbers in Wednesday night’s draw and while Mark and Cindy Hill, from Dearborn, Missouri, have been identified as the winners of one, the other winner has not yet stepped forward.
Lottery officials announced the ticket was bought at a 4 Sons Food Store in Fountain Hills, Arizona.
The man in the Maryland store footage told fellow customers that he had bought the ticket 2,500 away in Arizona, ABC 7 reported.
Surveillance footage taken at a gas station in Prince George’s County, Maryland, reportedly shows the moment a Powerball player discovered he had one of the two winning tickets in the $588 million jackpot
After walking nonchalantly into the store, he is seen digging into his pockets and pulling out his tickets, which he then checks by the register.
The man, who is dressed in a neon yellow jacket, shakes the paper in disbelief as he matches up the numbers before handing the ticket to the clerk, who tells him the numbers are correct.
He rushes over to other customers to ask them to check and they, too, say he has won.
“And then he said, <<I got to get out of here>>,” employee Freddie Lopez told WJLA.
Witnesses told the channels that the man lives in Maryland, and one customer told WJLA that he heard the man may be in the military.
If he is the lucky ticket holder, he has 180 days to return to Arizona to collect the prize.
Karen Bach, the director of budget, product and communication for the Arizona Lottery, said she is not surprised that the winner has not come forward yet.
“I think that it is important for the winner to be thoughtful and make some plans and then come in and celebrate,” she said.
“So I think it usually takes a little time but you never know.”
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