Outside a small mini-mart in downtown Los Angeles, a large sign reads "Lucky Retailer," and they aren't kidding around. Las Palmitas Mini Market is where a lucky customer bought a winning Powerball lottery ticket that turned them into an instant billionaire last night. (See video of the store below, posted by Blake Troli.)
The lucky numbers were 7, 10, 11, 13 and a Powerball 24, and the winning Powerball jackpot was about $1.08 billion. This was the second time in a year that somebody bought a a $1 billion Powerball ticket in Los Angeles, and it was the third largest grand prize in the history of the game, which started in 1992.
From CBS News:
The ticket holder or holders will get to pick either a lump sum payment of $558.1 million or an annuity for the $1.08 billion. Both figures are before taxes.
The drawing had more than 4.8 million winning tickets overall and lower-tier cash prizes worth $85.1 million.
It was the second time in eight months that a $1 billion Powerball ticket was sold in Los Angeles County, CBS News Los Angeles points out. In November, a lucky man at Joe's Service Center in Altadena correctly guessed the numbers accompanying the world-record Powerball jackpot of $2.04 billion.
The $1.08 billion grand prize is the third largest in the game's history since it started in 1992. Last year, a single ticket sold in California won the $2.04 billion world record jackpot, and the game's second-largest grand prize of $1.586 billion was split among winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.
Front page thumbnail image: Tony Stock / shutterstock.com
