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Winning Powerball ticket sold in California as numbers drawn for $1.5bn jackpot Winning $1.5bn Powerball ticket sparks frenzy in quiet California suburb
(about 5 hours later)
A winning ticket to the record-breaking Powerball jackpot has emerged in California, the state’s lottery organisation has tweeted. Hysteria over the largest lottery jackpot in US history came to a quiet southern Californian community after state lottery officials announced at least one winning Powerball ticket had been sold at a convenience store in the Los Angeles suburb.
The winning numbers in the Powerball drawing on Wednesday night are: 8, 27, 34, 04,19 and Powerball: 10. Hordes of excited residents and a media army descended on the lucky 7-Eleven outlet in Chino Hills, an affluent area in south-west San Bernardino county, where one of three winning tickets nationwide was sold for the record $1.5bn (£1.05bn) jackpot, according to lottery officials.
The $1.5bn jackpot is the largest ever in the United States. It is not yet clear if the winning ticket, bought in Chino Hills, is the only winner. Other states have yet to declare their results. The other winning tickets were sold in Florida and Tennessee but details were not immediately available. Powerball is played in 44 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
“I’m just very happy and very excited,” said Balbir Atwal, 57, the 7-Eleven franchise store owner, surrounded by a boisterous crowd who packed the store and spilled outside on Wednesday evening. “Whoever won here, I’m very happy for him or her.”
Frenzy scene outside the Chino Hills 7-eleven where winning powerball jackpot ticket was sold pic.twitter.com/YozczVjKGrFrenzy scene outside the Chino Hills 7-eleven where winning powerball jackpot ticket was sold pic.twitter.com/YozczVjKGr
The payout is worth nearly $930m if a winner chooses an immediate cash payout instead of annual payments over 29 years, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association. Powerball is played in 44 states, Washington, D.C. and two US territories. Stores that sell winning tickets are in line for a $1m bonus under lottery rules. Atwal said he learned of the news when a reporter called him for comment. “I was just speechless, so excited,” hesaid.
Most, if not all of you, are tearing up your tickets right now and tossing them in the air, but you knew that was going to happen, because the chances that you were going to win were incredibly slim. Crowds of cellphone-wielding residents continued to pile into his small store in a strip mall alongside Chino Hills Parkway through the evening, snapping selfies and chanting everything from “Chino Hills!” To “Free El Chapo”.
BUT, if there is more than one winner, and one of them is you, the Guardian has some tips for you on what to do next. Outside, TV broadcast trucks from cable news and network affiliates parked on embankments and any other available space, as passing cars honked their horns.
Suzanne McGee also has some advice on how to protect your money, once you get your hands on it. The scene was so chaotic that police were forced to marshall traffic at one point. Manager Bally Gosal, 47, said customers had been lining up out of the 7-Eleven in recent days to buy Powerball tickets. On Wednesday, he worked from 6am to 7pm and could well have sold the winning ticket in a late flurry of sales, he added.
But remember David Ferguson thinks that, really, it would be terrible to win because it would make you miserable. Related: Fat chance: the impossible occurrences more likely than winning Powerball
“I saw the news on TV and was so happy,” Gosal said of learning about the store’s role in the win. “I know everybody who shops here, I live in Chino Hills, so this is nice.”
Chino Hills, 50km east of downtown Los Angeles, is usually a quiet, residential place – the sixth richest mid-sized city and 12th safest in the US. Residents were shocked to find their community suddenly in the spotlight.
“Out of all 48 states, it’s our little town: how crazy! What are the odds? Most people would never have heard of us,” said local resident Heather Brazil, 44, who came to check out the reaction at the 7-Eleven with her tteenage daughter and nine-year-old son, Frankie.
“He wanted to come see all the cameras. His dad’s a teacher and said he shouldn’t because it’s a school night, but it’s a once in a lifetime thing,” she added.
Brazil said after living in the community 20 years, if a local resident had bought the winning ticket, she would likely know them. “It makes me feel like I was so close to winning living in the same area,” she laughed, kicking herself for buying her tickets in a Circle K convenience store nearby.
Her daughter Melissa, 15, echoed the prevailing sentiment: “I was so surprised it was from Chino.”
The odds of winning the largest jackpot in American history were 1 in 292.2m. Wednesday night’s winning numbers were 4, 8, 19, 27, 34, with a Powerball of 10, while the multiplier was 2X. The jackpot had been building since November last year.
Lisa Noller, 52, has for 15 years lived half a mile from the 7-Eleven that sold the winning California ticket. So when she saw it was all over the TV, she was compelled to come down. “I’m excited and I didn’t even buy any tickets!”
As midnight approached the crowd had largely dispersed, except for the increasing numbers of extended family of the store owner and staff, who massed behind the registers smiling and posing for photos.
Owner Atwal, who has three other 7-Eleven franchises in the region, said he emigrated to the US from Punjab, India, in 1981, while store manager Gosal said he arrived in California from the same Indian state about 20 years ago.
Asked what he will do with the $1m slice of the winnings awarded to the store, Atwal said it was premature to even think about it – but it would not change his routine.
“I really don’t know and it’s only going to be a small percentage. I will still be here working hard.” Whoever holds that winning ticket is unlikely to be thinking the same.