News

POWERBALL TICKET WORTH $21 MILLION SOLD IN ST. LOUIS

If you buy Powerball tickets at Johnny’s Market, 11555 Gravois Road in St. Louis, you’d better check your tickets.  One ticket sold there for the Feb. 22 Powerball drawing matched all six numbers drawn to win half of the $42 million jackpot.  Another ticket sold in the state of Louisiana also matched all six numbers.  Those winning numbers are:  2, 5, 6, 9, 10 and the Powerball number was 26.

"Be sure to check your tickets carefully," said Gary Gonder, communications director for the Missouri Lottery.  "If you find you have the winning ticket, be sure to sign the back of it and put it in a safe place until you can get to a Missouri Lottery office."

Missouri Powerball players have exactly 180 days from the drawing date to claim jackpot prizes, which means the winner would have until Aug. 21, 2003.  The winner has 60 days from the drawing to choose if he or she would like to take the jackpot in one lump sum, which in this case would be approximately $11.3 million before taxes, or in 30 annual payments of approximately $700,000 a year before taxes.  If no choice is made in 60 days, the jackpot is automatically paid out in 30 annual payments.

To date, 21 Powerball tickets worth $5 million or more for a total of nearly $600 million have been sold in Missouri since the game began almost 10 years ago.  Missouri is ranked second in terms of jackpot winners sold among the 25 lotteries that sell Powerball tickets.