Someone is holding onto the sole winning Powerball ticket that was sold at a 7-Eleven in Trenton, New Jersey and is worth $429.6 million, lottery officials said Sunday.
The owners of the 7-Eleven on the 700 block of Chambers Street told ABC News that the winning ticket was purchased there, and that they received a call and a visit from lottery officials on Sunday morning. The owners believe the winner picked her own numbers, not Quick Pick, and they believe she is a regular customer and Powerball player.
The owners of the store will receive $30,000 as a prize for selling the winning ticket, and plan to use the money to go on a trip to Alaska.
Saturday's winning numbers were:
25-66-44-5-26 Powerball: 9
Saturday's prize is the largest since a record $1.6 billion payout in January.
That's a cool $269 million as a pre-tax cash option.
Interest and sales typically spike when the lack of a winner causes prizes to spiral upward, despite the seemingly astronomical odds of one in 292.2 million.
And even with such bad odds, a winning ticket or tickets will eventually be sold. That's because about 323 million people live in the United States, and when the jackpot balloons, a lot of them buy a lot of tickets. In January, more than 75 percent of the possible 292.2 million combinations were sold for the big prize.
Powerball is played in 44 states as well as the District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The jackpot Saturday had climbed to nearly $430 million, making the prize the largest since a record $1.6 billion payout in January that prompted some to wait in hours-long lines outside lottery retailers. But unlike Saturday night's drawing, that jackpot was shared by three winning tickets.
This isn't the first time Powerball luck has struck in New Jersey. In 2013, a sole ticket claimed a $383 million Powerball jackpot.
Seven tickets from Saturday night's drawing matched five numbers and claimed $1 million, including three in New York, two in Illinois and one apiece in California and Virginia.
