Big Weekend Winners: Over $1 Billion Awarded
Two American lotteries, Powerball and Mega Millions, award more than $1 billion this previous weekend to two separate lucky winners.
A player in Florida scooped $450 million in Friday night’s Mega Millions draw. This happened before a New Hampshire ticket holder capped a winning weekend with a $559.7 million Powerball windfall.
The Powerball Winners
The player is the third biggest single-ticket Powerball winner since the game began, after matching the winning numbers 12, 29, 30, 33 and 61 with Powerball 26. However, the player is yet to be named and has a year to come forward and claim their prize.
The ticket was purchased at Reeds Ferry Market in Merrimack, New Hampshire on Sunday morning. It was revealed to be the shop that sold the first Powerball-winning ticket since Wednesday 25th October 2017. Crowds were eager to find out more about the Granite State’s biggest ever lottery winner and to congratulate shop owner Sam Safa.
Safa told the press that he hopes the winner is a regular customer at the store. The store sits between state capital Concord and Boston, Massachusetts. He admitted to being “very excited and overwhelmed”. He tells reporters that the store had helped crown many winners previously, but nothing like the most recent prize.
The Mega Millions Winners
Friday’s winner matched the winning Mega Millions line 28, 30, 39, 59 and 70 with Mega Ball 10.
Friday night saw the fourth-largest Mega Millions jackpot since changes were made in October. The ticket won on a line bought at a 7-Eleven in Port Richey.
The Florida city has been buzzing with excitement over the weekend. Locals are keen to learn the identity of their latest multimillionaire.
Donna Aloi is a local woman who picked up $24.1 million on Florida Lotto in 2001. When contacted by Fox 13 News, Aloi had some words of advice for this weekend’s winner. She says, “Whatever you do, just remember money is not gonna buy happiness, that’s like the most important thing.”
