Editor: The original news story contained several errors that have been corrected, as noted below.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Right now one Powerball lottery ticket holder is a multi-millionaire and may not even know it. So far no one has come forward to claim Wednesday night's prize of $259,900,000.
The Powerball winner bought the ticket in South Carolina at the Murphy USA store on Garners Ferry Road in Columbia.
The interim director of the S.C. Education Lottery made the announcement Thursday morning at the store. Paula Harper Bethea says this is the sixth time in seven years that someone from the Palmetto state has won the Powerball, and it's the largest jackpot in the state's history.
"We are just so hopeful that this is a lucky South Carolinian or several lucky South Carolinians," Bethea said.
The winner will have to choose whether they want to take a lump cash sum of approximately $129,000,000 (before state and federal tax withholdings), or get paid installments for 29 years. [Editor: I fixed several errors in the original news story from WCSC, including a claim that the winner will have 50% of the prize taken out in taxes, followed by more tax withholdings.]
Winners who choose yearly payments will be paid for the first time right after claiming the win and then an annually-increasing amount for the next 29 years. [Editor: Again, I fixed more errors here. The story claimed that annual payments stay the same every year, and the opposite is true — Powerball is one of the few lotteries to use an annuity payment schedule that increases the payment each year.]
The payments can be passed on to an heir or estate if the winner dies.
If and when a winner comes forward the Murphy USA store will also get a $50,000 check for selling the winning ticket. So far $2.2 billion from the state lottery has gone to education.
If you bought a ticket from Murphy USA in Columbia double check your tickets: The winning white ball numbers were 14, 24, 31, 43, and 51. The red Powerball was 27 and the Powerplay was 5.
Wow, that's some big errors..
These stories are just silly and annoying though aren't they? Every time a winner takes more than 24 hours to come forward a story like this gets written (with the similar wording though usually without the major errors) as if they expect someone to run right to the lottery HQ and get their money without doing any sort of preparation or exploring of their options like everyone who wins is an impulsive idiot.
*raises hand* Impulsive idiot right here.
Have you ever seen My Name Is Earl? A peice of paper is a fragile thing. I'm not sure I would wait even one day to have my ticket verfied and the process started of claiming my winnings. It's such a shame it takes 2 weeks to recieve your cash because i would NOT want to return home after everyone realized (through the press) i had been fortunate enough to win millions, but I don't have the means to stay in hotels for 2 weeks at the present time. oh well.
Staying in a hotel only requires a credit card and if you won a lottery jackpot you could afford to pay the bill you would be getting a month or two later.
of course you do. After claiming your ticket and it gets verified and the leak to the press.....all you have to say is...I want to go to...(wherever).
...it's like having Aladin's Lamp with unlimited wishes!!! Instead of a Platinum card you'll have a BLUE CARD....the sky's the limit!!!
....plan before the win.....let that be the fantasy. Then when you get it...it won't be such a shock.
That is so cool........Constantly B.............getting a BLUE CARD.......THE SKY'S THE LIMIT!!!!..........I WANT ONE!!!!!!!!.......beaudad.......
Yes if you return home the phone would be ringing off the hook and people would be coming out of the woodwork for a handout....heck they'd be all over your doorsteps too...
...if I won I think I'd "try" to keep it quite for awhile too to figure out what to do...while having privacy to do it in...sure hope I have that problem some day but it's very unlikely...
"if you return home the phone would be ringing off the hook"
That's one of many reasons not to go running to the lottery office right away. If I win a jackpot the phone number I have now will have been turned off long before I make it to the lottery office. I also won't be living in the place they'll be telling the news media I live in. If you want to be able to maintain some semblance of privacy, you need to start working on that privacy before your name gets released to the media.