$202 Million Powerball Jackpot Won In Iowa

The good news: Someone won the $202 million Powerball Jackpot last night. The bad news: If you don’t live in Iowa, it probably wasn’t you.

Iowa Lottery officials said this morning that the winning ticket was sold at a convenience store in Bondurant, a suburb of Des Moines. The winning numbers from Wednesday night’s drawing were 13, 26, 39, 41, 42 and the Powerball number was 10.

NBC News points out that the first three winning numbers are all multiples of 13. Last night’s drawing was also on the 26th, another multiple of 13.

According to Powerball.com only one winning ticket was sold. The Powerball jackpot has not been claimed yet.

Only one person won the Powerball jackpot but Iowa did see several winners last night. A $1 million ticket was sold in Williamsburg and a $10,000 ticket was sold in Hiawatha. The $100,000 Cash Game also saw a winner in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Lottery CEO Terry Rich said:

“Even we are awestruck by this news… We can’t remember a time when we’ve seen this many winners all in one night. We’re conducting standard security checks for the tickets involved, but it’s definitely an unusual and very exciting time in Iowa for lottery players. And if there’s ever a time to check and double-check your lottery tickets, this is it.”

According to the Star Tribune, this is Iowa’s second major Powerball jackpot win this year. In June, a $241 million jackpot was claimed by 20 Quaker Oats employees in Cedar Rapids.

A $202 million powerball jackpot isn’t too shabby but it’s about $100 million short of Donald Lawson’s win last August. Lawson, from Michigan, claimed a $337 million Powerball jackpot.

But even Lawson’s $300 million windfall doesn’t come close to the largest jackpot in US history. The top Powerball lottery in US history was $365 million. The top Mega Millions lottery was an incredible $656 million. That win was split between three people.

Do you play the lottery? What would you do with $202 million?