2 winning tickets sold for a $ 688 million Powerball jackpot in the United States

OF THE MONKS, Iowa – Two tickets corresponding to the winning numbers of the $ 688 million Powerball jackpot have been sold, one in a rural town of Iowa and the other in New York, have Sunday announced lottery officials.

Powerball officials said the tickets matched the six draw numbers on Saturday night and would divide the fourth-largest grand prize in US history. The jackpot was originally estimated at $ 750 million, but amounted to $ 687.8 million at the time of the draw.

One of the winning tickets was sold to Casey's convenience store in Redfield, Iowa, a rural community of about 800 residents located about 56 km west of Toronto. Monks. The other winning ticket was sold at West Harlem Deli in New York.

There was no immediate word on who bought the winning tickets. An employee who answered the phone Sunday at the Iowa convenience store declined to comment and asked questions to lottery officials. The store will receive $ 10,000 for the sale of the winning ticket.

Lottery officials in Iowa said the ticket sold at the store was the biggest lottery prize ever won in that state.

"Even we are amazed," said Sunday Terry Rich, CEO of Iowa Lottery. "It shows what we've said many times: you never know when the next big winner will hit."

Rich said anyone who played Powerball in the past few days had to double-check his tickets: the winning numbers were 8, 12, 13, 19 and 27, and Powerball 4.

The lottery officials encouraged the winners, who have one year to make themselves known, to first consult a financial advisor. Rich said that the identity of the winner of Iowa will be revealed as required by state law.

The draw took place four days after someone won a $ 1.54 billion jackpot, the second-biggest lottery lottery. This ticket was sold in South Carolina.

The Powerball is played in 44 states, Washington, DC, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

The exact jackpot is determined by the sales figures where the tickets are sold. Officials note that the reason jackpots rise so dramatically when prices get huge is that people who do not normally play decide to buy a few tickets. This is great for lottery sales, but it is harder for officials to estimate the number of irregular players that will be participating and the number of tickets that they will buy, which will further complicate the number of players that will participate. Jackpot estimate.