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Powerball Jackpot of $758 Million Goes to Winner in Massachusetts

The enormous jackpot trails only a $1.6 billion prize that was divided among winners in three states in January 2016.
IMAGE: Sign showing Powerball jackpot in New York
A sign displays the Powerball jackpot of $700 million at a newsstand in New York on Wednesday.Brendan McDermid / Reuters

A $758 million fortune will go to just one lucky buyer in Massachusetts, who drew the sole winning Powerball number in the second-richest in the game's history, the lottery's organizers said early Thursday.

The winning numbers — 6, 7, 16, 23 and 26, with a Powerball of 4 — were drawn at 10:59 p.m. Wednesday, said the Multi-State Lottery Association, which oversees the game for the 44 states that participate, and Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

The windfall is the largest win on a single ticket in North American history, the Massachusetts State Lottery said on Twitter.

Almost 10 million more players won prizes totaling more than $135 million, it said. The New Jersey Lottery said two tickets worth $1 million each were sold.

The odds of matching all six numbers is one in 292.2 million.

However, a larger prize attracts more players and that means more number combinations are selected, so the probability increases that one or more people will buy winning tickets. That means an individual's chances of winning don't increase, but the odds that someone will win do rise.

The single winning ticket was sold at the Pride Station & Store convenience store in Chicopee, the Massachusetts State Lottery announced.

Initially, the Massachusetts State Lottery said that the winning ticket was sold at the Handy Variety in Watertown. However, lottery officials later amended their initially statement, saying Handy Variety sold a $1 million lotto ticket.

Pride founder Bob Bolduc told reporters on Thursday he believed the winner was a "middle-aged woman" who bought the ticket around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, but didn't know her name.

Bolduc said he's not sure how much money his store will receive, but he was told the store's commission is capped at $50,000 in the state of Massachusetts.

"We’re happy for our customer and we're happy for the charities we're going to give our commission to," Bolduc said. "They will all be local because we support all our local charities already. We will just be dividing it up between them."

Related: Near-Record Powerball Jackpot Sparks Lottery Fever Across United States

The current jackpot refers to the annuity option, doled out in 30 payments over 29 years, increasing 5 percent annually.

Nearly all winners favor the cash option, which would now be $480.5 million, before taxes.

Wednesday night's jackpot trails only a $1.6 billion prize that was divided among winners in three states in January 2016. The result means the next jackpot resets at "only" $40 million.

CORRECTION (6:50 a.m., Aug. 24): An earlier version of this article misstated the number of states that participate in Powerball. It is 44, not 33.