Powerball winners: Winning Arizona ticket sold in Fountain Hills

PHOENIX - The winning Powerball ticket sold in Arizona was sold at a store in Fountain Hills, says lottery officials.

The lottery official says the winner has not yet claimed his or her prize as of Thursday.

The winning ticket was a $10 Quick Pick sold at a 4 Sons Food store at 13779 N. Fountain Hills Boulevard in Fountain Hills.

At the Fountain Hills convenience store, customers began coming in and calling as soon as the Arizona Lottery announced that's where the winning ticket was sold.

Some were checking their numbers, but most just wanted to share in the big moment.

"I think it's crazy, and I also think it's great," said Bob Chebat, who manages the 4 Sons. "I'm glad that all that work yesterday wasn't for nothing."

The store was swept up in a nationwide ticket-buying spree preceding Wednesday's drawing, with the big money enticing many people who rarely, if ever, play the lottery to buy a shot at the payout.

Clerks at 4 Sons sold 986 Powerball tickets Wednesday, which Chebat said was well above average.

The winner does not have to be a legal resident of Arizona or the U.S. but would then have to pay higher taxes.

Powerball officials said early Thursday morning that two tickets sold in Arizona and Missouri matched all six numbers to win the record $587.5 million jackpot.

An ABC15 crew was also told a $1 million winning ticket was sold in Tucson.

The numbers drawn Wednesday night are 5, 16, 22, 23, 29. The Powerball is 6.

It was not clear whether the winning tickets belonged to individuals or were purchased by groups.

Americans went on a ticket-buying spree in the run-up to Wednesday's drawing, the big money enticing many people who rarely, if ever, play the lottery to purchase a shot at the second-largest payout in U.S. history.

Tickets were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide -- about six times the volume from a week ago. That pushed the jackpot even higher, said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.

Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neumauer said the jackpot was estimated at $587.5 million by early Thursday, adjusted slightly upward from the $579.9 million estimate at the time of the drawing. The cash payout was $384.7 million.

Among those who had been hoping to win was Lamar Fallie, a jobless Chicago man who said his six tickets conjured a pleasant daydream: If he wins, he plans to take care of his church, make big donations to schools and then "retire from being unemployed."

The jackpot had already rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner, but Powerball officials said Wednesday they believed there was a 75 percent chance the winning combination would be drawn this time.

Some experts had predicted that if one ticket hit the right numbers, chances were good that multiple ones would. That happened in the Mega Millions drawing in March, when three ticket buyers shared a $656 million jackpot, which remained the largest lottery payout of all time. And it happened again for Wednesday's Powerball drawing.

Yvette Gavin, who sold the tickets to Fallie, is only an occasional lottery player herself, but she said the huge jackpot compelled her to play this time. As for the promises she often gets from ticket purchasers, Gavin isn't holding her breath.

"A lot of customers say if they win they will take care of me, but I will have to wait and see," she said.