Powerball $203 Million Jackpot Won In Missouri — But Mystery Surrounds Winning Ticket
A Powerball jackpot of nearly $203 million up for grabs in Saturday’s drawing will go to one big winner in Missouri. But for some reason, the Missouri state lottery commission has kept quiet with details of the winning ticket, even as late as Sunday morning, more than 12 hours after the winning numbers were selected at random in the regular, Tallahassee, Florida, drawing.
Usually, within a few hours, state lottery commissions know and make public the name and location of the retailer where a winning ticket was sold. But as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time, the Missouri state lottery commission had not yet acknowledged that the winning Powerball lottery ticket was, in fact, purchased in the Show Me State, either on its website or Twitter account.
The national Powerball site did announce that the winner bought the life-changing ticket in Missouri — and that five other Powerball players won a million bucks each.
Those five second-prize Powerball tickets, which matched the first five numbers but missed in the Power Ball, were sold in New York, Florida, North Carolina, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. In total, Saturday night’s Powerball drawing saw potential winnings of more than $11.1 million tickets given away over 23.9 million tickets sold.
The jackpot was reported at $202.6 million, just slightly less than the advertised $203 million. Such advertised jackpot values are estimates based in part on expected ticket sales. The Powerball jackpot was the fourth-highest jackpot value won in 2014 by a Powerball ticket holder.
That $202.6 million figure is the annuity value of the Powerball jackpot, meaning that if the winner wants the full amount, the cash will be paid out in escalating installments over a 30-year period. The first check, paid right away, would total a bit more than $3.6 millon. Then, three decades from now when the final installment payment arrives, that one will be written for $11.2 million.
But most lottery winners take their jackpot prizes all at once, which means the “cash value” is adjusted downward from the advertised annuity value. The lucky albeit mysterious Missouri Powerball winner will collect $126.7 million before taxes if he or she wants the money all in one lump sum.
After a federal 25 percent withholding tax and a 4 percent state tax, the newest Powerball multimillionaire will be left with just under $90 million to play around with. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but far less than the advertised $203 million.
To find out if your Powerball ticket can be turned in for any of the cash, check the ticket against these numbers:
9 — 19 — 33 — 38 — 54 Power Ball 15
The jackpot for Wednesday’s Powerball lottery now reverts back to the minimum $40 million.
