Wisconsin appears to have chalked up another big winner in the multi-state Powerball lottery.
Although there was no immediate confirmation from the Multi-State Lottery Association based in West Des Moines, Iowa, Wisconsin lottery spokesman Andrew Bohage said early Thursday that a winning ticket in Wednesday night’s drawing was purchased in Walworth County, along the Illinois border.
Bohage said the cash-option ticket was worth more than $104 million. That means the winner accepts a modified lump sum rather than getting the estimated jackpot of $194 million in annual installments.
Bohage said the ticket was purchased at Lakeside Country Store near Genoa City.
Around the nation Wednesday, people drove across state lines, often waited an hour or more in crowded stores and put down their money in hopes of winning the world’s richest lottery jackpot. The Powerball game could have had a payoff of $194.4 million for a single winner.
The winning numbers were 4, 9, 30, 34, 48 and Powerball 8.
The odds of hitting on all six numbers were 80.1 million-to-1.
Charles Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, said there was an 80 percent chance that at least one ticket would have all the right numbers.
Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, 17 other states and the District of Columbia sell Powerball tickets.
Wisconsin was where the biggest single Powerball jackpot was won. A jackpot of $111.2 million was paid to two women in Fond du Lac in July 1993.
