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Tennessee Ticket Wins Entire $421 Million Powerball Jackpot

By Rahul Srinivas
Published on: 20:08 PST, Nov 26, 2016

A person from Tennessee has become an overnight multimillionaire after a lottery ticket sold in the state had the winning numbers for a $421 million Powerball jackpot. The fact that the winning Powerball ticket was purchased in the state was confirmed on the Powerball website as well. A scrolling statement on the website reads as follows.

“There was one winner sold by the Tennessee Lottery for the last drawing’s $420,900,000 grand prize.”

Thanks to a spate of late ticket buying, the jackpot amount soared from$403 million on Friday to $420 million on Saturday. In case you are wondering, the winning ticket numbers for the Powerball jackpot were 17, 19, 21, 37, 44, with the Powerball 16. No one has stepped forward yet to claim the prize as of this report being filed. This is also the first time since September 16 that anyone matched all the numbers. In case you were wondering how lucky the winner is, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million! While the winner will not get all of $420 million, the expected amount he or she would get after deductions is estimated to be a (still) staggering $254.7 million. The winner also gets the option for the payment to be paid out for a period of 30 years.

While this insane amount of $420 million is quite large, it pales in comparison to the the largest ever Powerball jackpot of nearly $1.6 billion – earlier this year in January. However, unlike in the latest case where we have a single winning ticket, there were three Powerball ticket winners for that $1.6 billion jackpot. The second largest jackpot amount in U.S. lottery history was a $656 million jackpot. Like the recent $1.6 billion, there were three claimants for this jackpot as well. The winners ended up winning $218.6 million each.

What makes the latest Powerball jackpot winner special is the fact that this jackpot amount is among the largest one-ticket jackpots in Powerball history.

Other notable single ticket wins include the following:

  • $590.5 million
    Back in May 2013, an 84-year-old woman from Florida, Gloria C. MacKenzie won the world’s largest one-ticket jackpot. The quick-pick ticket was purchased by her at a Publix supermarket. She chose the cash option and ended up winning $370.8 million, before Federal withholding.
  • $536 million
    This was a Mega Millions single ticket jackpot for a ticket that was purchased by a family in Hamilton County, Indiana. Although they had purchased tickets earlier, this was the first time they played Mega Millions. Even though the full jackpot amount was smaller than the $590.5 million jackpot that took the first position, this one takes the first place for the highest ever actual amount won. The family laughed their way into the bank $378.3 million richer!

In case you are reading this article from outside the U.S., here is a brief lowdown on the Powerball. Playable in 44 states of the U.S. as well as the the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Powerball is held by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). Powerball drawings are held Wednesday and Saturday evenings at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time – usually at the Florida Lottery’s studio in Tallahassee. Each play costs $2, or $3 with the Power Play option.

Are you from Tennessee? Do let us know if you think you are the lucky one!

[Featured Image By Pixabay]

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