Security hitch delays draw for $2.67b Powerball jackpot in United States
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The Powerball prize, which comes after 40 consecutive drawings with no winner, is the second billion-dollar jackpot in recent months.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK - The appointed time came to see who might have won a record US$1.9 billion (S$2.67 billion) Powerball jackpot, but as Monday night turned into Tuesday morning, the suspense continued as an unspecified “security protocol” prevented numbers from being drawn.
Powerball said the drawing had been delayed because a participating lottery needed “extra time to complete the required security protocols”. It did not specify what those protocols were or what exactly had occurred.
“Powerball has strict security requirements that must be met by all 48 lotteries before a drawing can occur,” the association said.
The winner would receive the largest payout in the United States lottery history,
Monday night’s event, scheduled at 10.59pm Eastern time (6.59am Tuesday in Singapore), came after 40 consecutive drawings without a winner, tying a record set in 2021 for the greatest number of consecutive drawings without a winner.
That Powerball jackpot run ended on Oct 4, 2021, with a US$699.8 million winner in California after 41 drawings.
The winner, if there is one, can have the prize paid in a lump sum, worth US$929.1 million, or in 30 graduated payments over 29 years, worth US$1.9 billion.
The first thing winners should do, according to experts, is to seek advice from a lawyer, a financial adviser and an accountant. And winners should research the professionals they turn to for help, checking the status of their licences and getting references.
The Powerball prize is the second billion-dollar jackpot in recent months. This summer, a single Mega Millions ticket
Previous billion-dollar jackpots were won in 2016, 2018 and 2021.
For more than a week, the ever-rising Powerball jackpot has set off a frenzy of ticket-buying across the country by routine lottery players and even some sceptics, hopeful that the odds of winning, one in 292.2 million, will tilt in their favour.
Players can buy a US$2 Powerball ticket in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The five states that do not participate are Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.
In Franklin County and Oneida County, Idaho, which draw Powerball players from neighbouring Utah, ticket sales were up 597 per cent last week compared with “a more traditional week a month ago”, when the jackpot was around US$354 million, Mr David Workman, a spokesman for the Idaho Lottery, said in an e-mail.
For more than a week, the ever-rising Powerball jackpot has set off a frenzy of ticket-buying across the US.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Jaw-dropping lottery jackpots are not unique to the US, although other regions have smaller amounts.
In October 2021, a ticket holder from France became the biggest EuroMillions winner of all time, winning 220 million euros (S$308 million), or about US$219 million at current exchange rates.
Mega Sena, the biggest lottery in Brazil, had its largest jackpot ever in 2021. Two people won and split 378 million real, or about US$75 million. And in 2019, a man in South Africa won the country’s largest jackpot of 232 million rand, or about US$13 million.
States oversee lottery operations and have different rules for how winnings are taxed and whether the names of the winners must be made public.
In Florida, anyone can request a winner’s name, city of residence and the amount they won. People who win US$250,000 or more are exempt from this rule for 90 days from the day that they claim the prize.
In Miami, Ms Janice Lusky Greenspan said she played the lottery a few times each year, usually buying five or 10 tickets at a time, but the record Powerball jackpot inspired her to buy 15 tickets at a Publix supermarket on Thursday morning.
“First thing I do after I win?” she said. “Change my phone number.” NYTIMES
