The lone winner of the USD 400 million Powerball ticket who won last week finally claimed his prize. Lottery officials said the winner came from Columbia, South Carolina but preferred to remain anonymous. The officials also did not reveal if the man got the USD 223 million lump sum or the 29-year annuity as prize for matching the winning numbers 7, 10, 22, 32, 35 and Powerball 19.
Powerball is played in 43 states, Washington DC and the US Virgin Islands. According to the Multi-State Lottery Association, the non-profit government-benefit association that operates Powerball, the odds of winning the grand prize was 1 in 175,223,510.
According to CNNMoney, Americans spent USD 65.5 billion to buy lottery tickets in 2011. An estimated 25% of the money goes to the coffers of state governments to fund schools, infrastructure and social services programs. Money from lottery tickets usually makes up 2% to 3% of a state's budget. It may seem insignificant but according to Economics Professor Victor Matheson, the funds would not be easy to replace. "[There's] an aversion to raising taxes. It's difficult to see how you would eliminate that much of state budgets and be able to come up with money elsewhere," he told CNNMoney.
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