(Corrects to show payout is before taxes in paragraph 4)
By Kevin Murphy and David Schwartz
DEARBORN, Mo./FOUNTAIN HILLS, Ariz., Nov 29 (Reuters) –
M anagers of a Missouri gas station and an Arizona food store
said on Thursday they were delighted that they may have handed
tickets to the two prospective multi-millionaire winners of a
record $587.5 million Powerball lottery jackpot.
The two winning tickets were sold at the gas station and
sandwich shop in the tiny farming town of Dearborn, Missouri,
about 30 miles north of Kansas City, and the food store in
Fountain Hills, Arizona, on the outskirts of Phoenix.
Although the identities of the ticket-holders were not
immediately announced, they picked the winning numbers announced
at the drawing Wednesday night: 5, 16, 22, 23, 29, and the
Powerball number 6.
They will share an estimated $385 million before taxes if
they opt to take the prize as a lump sum, or the $587.5 million
can be paid out to them as annuities over three decades, the
Multi-State Lottery Association said.
Kristi Williams, a clerk at the Trex Mart convenience store
in Dearborn, said she and another employee high-fived each other
when they learned the morning after the drawing that one of the
two winning tickets had been purchased there.
Store manager Chris Nauerz, who was working Wednesday when
the lucky ticket was purchased, called the news “shocking.” He
said the station gets a mix of customers, both locals from
Dearborn, population 500, and truck drivers passing through on
nearby Interstate 29.
“It’s pretty crazy to think somebody locally could possibly
be a millionaire and not know it yet,” Nauerz said. “And the
fact that I may have even handed over the ticket is even
wilder.”
The popular lottery – which is played in 42 states,
Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands – had not had a
winner for two months.
After no one won the top prize in Saturday’s drawing, the
pot grew by about $263 million to $587.5 million amid a national
frenzy to buy tickets.
Bob Chebat, the manager of the store in Arizona where the
second lucky ticket was purchased, said customers bought 986
tickets yesterday and that there was a good chance he had sold
the winning ticket.
“It’s almost as good as me winning,” Chebat said.
“People say all the time that I’ll throw you a million if I
win, and no one ever has … I guess we’ll see what happens
now.”
Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, where
Powerball is based, said people from around the world called
hoping for a chance to play but were told they had to be in a
participating location to buy a ticket.
The previous Powerball top prize of $365 million was won in
2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska. The
largest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot, the $656 million Mega
Millions drawing, was shared by three winning tickets last
March.
(Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins, David Bailey and Mary
Slosson; Writing by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Vicki Allen
and Eric Walsh)
