None of the winners of a massive $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot came forward to claim their prize Thursday, but more than 70 others had a reason to smile after winning million-dollar prizes.
California, Tennessee and Florida sold one jackpot winning ticket each in Wednesday’s drawing, lottery officials said. Each winning ticket carries a prize of $528.8 million, California Lottery said.
"The Chino Hills winner has not come forward yet," California Lottery, which was the first to confirm a winner, said on its Twitter feed.
The $1.58 billion lottery jackpot is the largest in history. The odds of winning were 1 in 292.2 million. It rolled over 20 times since January without a winner, swelling to $500 million last Wednesday and then to $900 million on Saturday.
Although the California winner is not known, the owner of the Chino Hills 7-Eleven that sold the ticket will split a $1 million bonus with the chain. Owner Balbir Atwal said he plans to share it with employees and family and donate to charity.
"I was just joking, I said, 'this is the time someone's going to hit it,'" laughed store owner Balbir Atwal.
A jackpot winning ticket was also sold at a Publix in Melbourne Beach, Florida, and another one at a grocery store in Munford, Tennessee, which has a population of around 6,000.
Meanwhile, 73 tickets won $1 million prizes.
In Maryland, a couple that missed the jackpot nearly threw their ticket in the trash. It ended up winning them $1 million, Maryland’s lottery said.
"I still can’t breathe," the woman, only identified as Kathryn, 34, told lottery officials. "I just can’t believe I almost threw away the ticket."
In Florida, a 19-year-old who had never played the lottery won $2 million, the Florida Lottery said in a press release.
Frederick Walker of Sanford saw an abandoned completed play slip and used those numbers in buying the winning ticket, which matched all five numbers with a $1 “power play” multiplier, the lottery said.
And in Paducah, Kentucky, 11 elementary school workers shared a $1 million jackpot, NBC affiliate WPSD reported.
Powerball is played in 44 states as well as in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Wednesday's huge jackpot surpassed the previous Powerball record of $590.5 million, which was won in Florida on May 18, 2013.
The numbers were 4, 8, 19, 27, 34 — with a Powerball of 10.
