WEST VIRGINIA HAS A NEW MILLIONARE

Yahoo News ^ | 12/26/02

[stlnative]

One Ticket Wins $315 Million Lottery

24 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Somewhere in West Virginia, someone is about to celebrate a green Christmas.

One winning ticket was sold in West Virginia for the nearly-$315 million Powerball lottery on Wednesday night, a spokesman for contest operator the Multi-State Lottery Association said.

The winning numbers were 5, 14, 16, 29 and 53 and the "Powerball" was 7.

The jackpot was the largest ever taken by a single winner, association spokesman Joe Mahony told Reuters. The Powerball is played in 23 states plus Washington D.C. and the Virgin Islands.

Initially expected to be about $280 million, the jackpot was pushed to $314.9 million by strong late sales.

"The sales were just phenomenal, they were just unbelievable," Mahony said.

The last winner was on Oct. 27, when one ticket sold in Indiana had the winning numbers for an $83.5 million pot.

According to the association, the odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in about 120.5 million, though the odds of winning any prize at all, down to $3, are 1 in 36.06.

Winners have the option of 30 annualized payments or one lump cash payment that is around half of the jackpot.

Mahony said the cash option for a single winner of Wednesday night's drawing would be about $170.5 million, or around $112 million after state and federal taxes.

The Powerball lottery accounted for $1.3 billion in ticket sales in 2001, he said.

The jackpot, while large, pales in comparison to Spain's annual Christmas lottery, which handed out $1.7 billion in prizes last Sunday.

An estimated 1,800 winners shared in "El Gordo," or "The Fat One," that lottery's top prize, worth $194,174.76 apiece, for a total pot of $349.5 million.

[stlnative]

Darn... I wish it was me!

[Husker24]

I guess ill be going to work tommorow after all.

[July 4th]

"Gosh dang it! I won!"

[briant]

At the risk of flames this may steal the thunder of that new reality show.

[stlnative]

Mahony said the cash option for a single winner of Wednesday night's drawing would be about $170.5 million, or around $112 million after state and federal taxes.

[Dianna]

Don't we all! One winner, wowie! It's a Merry Christmas in West, By God, Virginia (and if anyone could explain that saying to me, I'd appreciate it.

[Dianna]

To be honest, I always figured taxes at about half, so that doesn't sound too bad to me.

[July 4th]

Please, just one request. Let the person that wins possess at least some intelligence. It just pisses me off to no end when someone wins who clearly has no idea what to do with that many zeroes.

I had a buddy who did a 6-month stint with the WI lottery; he had one way to tell if the people were going to blow the money. If the winners come forward tomorrow, they're done for. The smart ones copy the ticket, anonymously verify it with the lottery office, and lock it up for a few weeks. Meanwhile, they set up their accounts, find a financial planner and attorneys, disconnect their phone, and get a new unlisted number.

[Lancey Howard]

I hope the winner is a FReeper.

[krb]

Me too...

[cryptical]

Caution is probably good, however with a 112 million payout, that's $15,000 a day (give or take) at 5% that you're losing by letting them hold on to the money while you get set up.

[stlnative]

I bet it will be someone that bought $5.00 bucks worth of Quick Picks, just because the pot was sooo big. I was at the Powerball site last night reading about the people who have won it in the past. Many winners won with Quick Pick numbers and by buying around $5.00 worth for the drawing they won on. (You cannot even get into the site now, due to the traffic on it).
http://www.powerball.com

I have not checked my numbers yet ($5.00 worth of Quick Picks), I am hoping that I won something. Alot of people will win something off the numbers that were picked, so check your tickets... even though you may not be the Big winner.

[ambrose]

Let the person that wins possess at least some intelligence.

Poor odds of that since playing the lottery is not an intelligent thing to do.

[stlnative]

You should go to the site when it not so busy... I read that they actually borrow the money from the goverment. You have to read the FAQ's on the site. Does anyone know what the claim time limit is in WV? Some of the states give you a full year, some only give you 180 days to come forward. Chances are the person will come forward very soon as the heat will be on them to get in front of the cameras.

[xrmusn]

Well seeing as how I live in Virginia and wouldn't drive 1/2 mile across the bridge into DC to buy a ticket, on Mon I had an 'emergency' call to WV, stopped for a cup of coffee, there was absolutely NO line so I purchased $5.00 worth of random tickets. Now I will have to wait and see what town the winning ticket was sold in....really have no idea what I will do with all that money but my natural instincts tell me I will end up with a whole passel full of NEW FOUND friends, confidants and advisors.....of course having THAT particular worry at this point is definitely putting the horse before the cart.....

[stlnative]

There is still one big Powerball Jackpot Unclaimed

Unclaimed in Indiana from September 14, 2002
$51,750,000 - Annuity
or $30,786,773.73 - Cash

[stlnative]

The title to this thread should have been West Virginia has a New "Multi-Millionaire" (sorry folks... time to go to bed!)

[bybybill]

West Virginia has a new millionaire, and the IRS didn`t do to bad either

[chnsmok]

VA and WV are seperate states. That's where the
WEST-by-God Virginia expression came from, to emphasize the difference.

[SAJ]

May a gracious G-d grant you your wish.

That said, no one who plays the lottery, state, multi-state, powerball, or any other, has any intelligence.

Anyone doing so willfully accepts the short end of a bet, and a WILDLY short end at that. Search on keyword: SCHM*CK. Thanks for funding the morons in government. And NO ONE who does so willfully is intelligent.

Play lotteries if you like...but didja see the odds of winning AMY PRIZE, down to $3 for a $1 ticket were 35-1 agains?

Sheesh.

Flame away, if and as you prefer, but this 'I might hit the jackpot' mentality is nothing but corrosive to society -- it's just the tort trial lawyer mentality, one dollar at a time.