One of the most celebrated jackpots in the history of the U.S. lottery was won in Wisconsin on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. It was bought by a lucky 24-year old man named Manuel Franco on Beloit Road in New Berlin (a suburb in Milwaukee) at a Speedway. The winning Powerball Jackpot ticket matched the following six numbers: 62, 44, 37, 20, 16, with 12 as the Powerball. This ticket made Manuel Franco a whopping $768.4 million dollars richer. Just imagine being the lucky person holding that ticket!
For those who don’t know, the Powerball is an American lottery game offered by the forty-five states, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Its first drawing was on April 22, 1992, after replacing Lotto America, the multistate game that had been in existence since February 13, 1988. The Powerball is organized by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which is a nonprofit organization established because of an agreement between US corporations and lobbyists. The drawings of the Powerball are audited by Carol and Company. The Powerball is hosted by Laura Johnson and Sam Arlen at Universal Studios every Saturday and Wednesday night at 10:50 pm Eastern Time.
The New Mexico Lottery CEO and Powerball Product Group chairman was very happy about the win. He was ecstatic that a jackpot of this magnitude could make many people’s dreams come true, including the lucky state of Wisconsin, all the lottery beneficiaries, and of course, the jackpot winner himself. He also reignited the excitement of Lottery players all around the country by making the following statement: “It's going to be a very green spring for our first Powerball jackpot winner of 2019." People from all around the country ran out to buy their tickets right after to see if they could get a taste of the riches too.
Cindy Polzin, Wisconsin’s Lottery Director, was also very excited about the win. She had the following to say: “This is an amazing milestone moment for Wisconsin. It truly is incredible to think that the winning ticket for this historic jackpot was sold in our own backyard. I am extremely excited for the winners and for our state. This event puts us in the national spotlight and turns Wisconsin into Wisconsin."
The jackpot winner himself could hardly contain his excitement. “It feels like a dream,” said Mr. Franco while addressing reporters at a Press Conference the Tuesday following his historic win. “It was amazing, my heart started racing, blood pumping… I screamed for about five or ten minutes.”
Before his big win, Mr. Franco said that it was indeed a struggle to get his bank account up to $1000. While at the press conference, he assured the public that he would not be like some of the lottery winners before him who wasted their fortune and became bankrupt soon after. Even though he didn’t know what the future held for him, Mr. Franco planned to donate some of his prize money to charity, help some of his family members go to college, and travel the world.
It is important to note that the $768.4 million dollars is the annuity option, which would be paid out over twenty-nine years. Almost all grand prize winners opt to take home the cash prize instead. In Mr. Franco’s case, his cash prize would be almost $477 million dollars. Both of the aforementioned prize options are before requisite taxes are withdrawn from the winnings. Mr. Franco opted for the cash prize, too, and took home a little bit more than $326 million after taxes were withdrawn from his winnings.
Although Manuel Franco was the sole winner of the Powerball jackpot on March 27, 2019, he was not the only person to get a taste of the riches that day. Seven lucky players matched five numbers without the Powerball and became 1 million dollars richer before taxes. One hundred and thirty winners matched four numbers and the Powerball and took home $50,000 before taxes.
The retailer who sold Mr. Franco his winning ticket also took home $100,000 before taxes were deducted. This Powerball win on March 227, 2019 marked the 17th time in Powerball Jackpot history that someone has won from the state of Wisconsin since 1988.
A few players got only a trickle of the luck which permeated that day and only managed to take home $100 before taxes from their $5 bet. These were the people who matched either 4 numbers or 3 numbers and the Powerball.
A few players who decided to utilize the Power Play add-on feature for the Powerball March 27, 2019 jackpot reaped the benefits of their extra spend. For those who do not know, the Power Play is an add-on option that allows you to multiply your non-jackpot winnings by ten, five, four, three, or two times. This multiplier number is randomly selected before each draw. The Power Play add-on was introduced to the Powerball game on March 7, 2001.
Two lucky Power Play winners matched 5 numbers and went home with $2,000,000 before taxes. Twenty Power Play winners matched 4 numbers and the Powerball and became $150,000 richer before taxes. All other Power Play winners gained $300, $21, and $12 respectively before taxes were deducted.
Since the Powerball Jackpot’s inception in 1992, only two other jackpots have boasted higher winnings than the one seen in the Powerball March 27, 2019. These are the $1.537 billion Mega Millions Jackpot, which was won in South Carolina in the year 2018, and the colossal $1.586 billion Powerball Jackpot shared by winners in Munford, Tennessee, Melbourne Beach, Florida, and Chino Hills, California on January 13, 2016.
The $1.537 billion Mega Millions Jackpot was so spectacular that it made it into the record books as the biggest lottery winnings ever awarded in the world. This was confirmed by the Associated Press, which is an independent global news agency dedicated to providing unbiased, accurate, and fast news.
A lucky man by the name of David Johnson won the Powerball Jackpot in December of the previous year. He is a 56-year-old truck driver from Brooklyn who bought his $5 ticket at the Arnold’s Service Station on Linden Boulevard. David had been walking around with the ticket in his wallet for quite some time before he realized that he had effortlessly turned himself into a multimillionaire with only $5. David has quit his job and is now enjoying his early retirement.
The winning numbers were 67, 52, 38. 25, 5, and a Powerball of 24. David was nearly $300 million dollars richer upon winning the jackpot of $294 million dollars. He opted to take a lump-sum payment of $180, 227, 550, which equates to $114, 091, 248 after taxes. David’s win is the third consecutive Powerball jackpot win for the state of New York.
But the Powerball Jackpot hasn’t stopped blessing people’s pockets since then, no! Since 2019, there have been 16 Powerball Jackpot winners. In fact, 5 lucky players won the Powerball in the same year as Manuel Franco. These winners are Charles W. Jackson Jr. from North Carolina, Freedom Trust from Tennessee, Healthy Rainbow LLC and David Yax from New York, Phillip Chippewa from Michigan, and Bill Lawrence from California. They all opted to take home the cash prize.
Charles won the Jackpot on June 1, 2019, and took home $223, 347,054.78. Freedom Trust won the Jackpot on July 13, 2019, and took home $128,130,339.46. Healthy Rainbow LLC won the Jackpot on August 17, 2019, and took home $105,638,829.41. David Yax won the Jackpot on September 4, 2019, and took home $57,306,590.25. Phillip Chippewa won the Jackpot on September 21, 2019, and took home $55, 286, 800.28. Bill Lawrence won the Jackpot on November 2, 2019, and took home $104,821,802.94. The figures shown are before the applicable taxes were withdrawn from the winnings.
Winning the Powerball Jackpot is a very exciting affair, indeed, but the odds of winning it are quite steep. According to the Wisconsin Lottery, the odds of winning the Powerball on March 27, 2019, were actually 1 in 292, 201, 338. About 3½ years ago, you had a better chance of becoming an instant millionaire by playing the Powerball Jackpot. Your odds of winning back then were about 1 in 175,000,000. Yet those odds do not stop players from trying their luck because they know that winning the Powerball Jackpot can make all of their monetary dreams come true.
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