Power Ball Drawing and Numbers: Winning Tickets in Arizona and Missouri
Wednesday night's Powerball drawing has yielded two winners, according to lottery officials.
Powerball officials stated early Thursday morning that two states, Arizona and Missouri, both sold winning tickets. The jackpot reached $579.9 million just before the drawing took place, making it the second highest jackpot in the record books.
However, with only two winners this game compared to the three winners, who shared the $656 million Mega Million jackpot in March, the payout will be bigger.
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Lotto frenzy was in full swing Wednesday night hours before the drawing took place. Tickets were being sold in the masses. In New York, ticket purchases surpassed over one million every hour. The jackpot is the second highest in history, following the Mega Million jackpot earlier this year that reached over $600 million.
Drawings for the winning ticket have been going on since Oct. 3. 16 drawings had occurred without a winner being announced.
Powerball officials stated Wednesday that there was a 75 percent chance one lucky person would be holding a winning ticket. The drawing occurred at 10:59 p.m. eastern time. The winning numbers were announced as: 05, 23, 16, 22, 29 with a Powerball of 6.
Leading up to the game, people were not afraid to speak of their "if only" day dreams. One man, who said he had never bothered to gamble, said he felt compelled to succumb to lotto fever.
"It's so absurd of a number," UPS driver Jim Baker, 43, told USA Today before the drawing. "People like me who never gamble say, 'Oh, I have to get a ticket.'"
"Half a billion dollars? Donald Trump, move over," Don Whitney, 77, of Carneys Point, N.J. added.
One lotto player admitted that he was afraid to even take a look at his ticket.
"I don't even know if I'll look at it," Andre Williams, who bought his ticket at a newsstand, told the Associated Press. "If I win, I might pass out."
But across the board, the unanimous decision appeared to be a "just do it" attitude.
"I've been thinking about winning this money and what I'd do with it," Pat Powell told AP while buying her first ticket. "There's no ritual, but it's just been on my mind. So it's like, let me just join the hype and just do it."
