Powerball Jackpot Winning Ticket Sold At Kum & Go In Colorado, Good For $90 Million Prize
The eighth Powerball jackpot winner of 2014 bought a ticket for the August 9 drawing at a Kum & Go store in the tiny, cattle-ranching town of Rifle in western Colorado. The jackpot could be worth up to $90 million if the Kum & Go Powerball player chooses to take the cash in 30 annual installments, which would average $3 million each.
Though Rifle has a population of fewer than 10,000 it is home to three Kum & Go convenience stores. The Powerball jackpot winner was sold at the Kum & Go franchise location at 120 East 26th St. in Rifle. While the identity of the Powerball winner is not yet known, the store itself is in line for a $50,000 bonus from the Colorado Lottery Commission for dispensing the winning Powerball ticket.
If the Rifle Powerball winner wants the jackpot paid out all at once — as most lottery jackpot winners do — the total amount will be $54 million before taxes, of course. Uncle Sam takes about $13.5 million out of that total and the state of Colorado will help itself to another $2.2 million, approximately.
That means the latest Powerball winner will walk away with more than $38 million in hand when all is said and done.
The Colorado Powerball winner is the first since 76-year-old Jack Long of Fontana, California, won a $60 million jackpot on July 19.
With eight winners so far in 2014, and 1,133,517,878 Powerball tickets sold so far this year, in 63 Powerball drawings, that means there has been one jackpot winner for approximately each 142 million tickets sold. That’s somewhat ahead of the expected pace, with the chances of matching all six Powerball numbers at one in more than 175 million.
Colorado also saw a second-prize winner, with another ticket sold in the state bringing the flat $1 million payout that comes with matching the first five numbers but not the Powerball.
In a big night for Powerball players, five other states also saw second-prize tickets sold, including one in Maryland which had the Power Play option activated. That second prize ticket will pay its lucky holder $2 million.
The other four second-prize Powerball tickets were sold in New York, New Mexico, Arkansas, and California.
Under California’s pari-mutuel payout system, non-jackpot winners see the amounts of prize money payouts vary. Sometimes a second-prize ticket can pay less than $1 million, sometimes more. But on Saturday, one Powerball player in Manhattan Beach, California, was not only lucky enough to match five numbers, he or she was doubly lucky because the pari-mutuel odds were heavily favorable. That ticket is worth an amazing $7,660,254.
The winning Powerball numbers drawn Saturday at 10:59 pm in Tallahassee, Florida, were:
3 — 12 — 31 — 34 — 51 Powerball 24
The next Powerball drawing is Wednesday, August 13, when the jackpot resets to $40 million.
