The winning ticket for the $1.5 billion Powerball lottery is sold in Chino Hills in San Bernardino County, the California Lottery Association announced.
According to CNN, the numbers drawn Wednesday were 08, 27, 34, 04, and 19, with 10 for the Powerball. However, the Chino Hills winner may not be a lone winner. More winning tickets will be announced soon.
Lottery officials advised winners to consult or hire financial experts before claiming the jackpot price, especially with the nine-digit federal income tax to be paid.
CBS News reported that the $1.5 billion jackpot priced will be given annually in a span of 29 years. The winner can also choose to get a lump-sum payment worth $930 million, since the winner has to pay 39.6 percent of the jackpot prize in Lottery income taxes. That is above any other state taxes.
The lottery officials said that by midday Wednesday, there have been an 85.8 percent of potential winning number combinations. However, the odds of winning the biggest lottery grand prize in the world are still at 1 in every 292.2 million.
The Washington Post wrote that most lottery players bought multiple tickets, with multitudes of Americans buying tickets in the hopes of winning the massive prize. Thousands of Canadians are also lured in by the dreamy jackpot prize.
There have been studies in the past that shows people usually mindlessly spend any extra money they get. Winning the lottery is definitely windfall money. Economists Guido Imbens and Bruce Sacerdote, along with statistician Donald Rubin conducted a study that shows lottery winner usually only save 16 cents of every dollar they got.
There are even studies that claim lottery winners get into more financial trouble instead of getting them out of it, with bankruptcy rates increasing. Demographic studies show that lottery playing peaks for people at the age of 30 to 39, and falls after that.
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