North Carolina mother says has winning ticket in $564 million Powerball
By Colleen Jenkins WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - A North Carolina mother of four says she bought one of the three winning tickets sold in the estimated $564.1 million U.S. Powerball lottery, but state lottery officials did not expect the prize to be claimed on Friday. Television news station WECT reported the numbers on 26-year-old Marie Holmes' ticket matched those from the Wednesday night jackpot drawing, the third largest in the game's history and one of the largest lottery jackpots ever in the United States. In a television interview, Holmes, who lives in Shallotte, said she has four children and had been looking for work. She said she was grateful for the chance to provide more for them. "I don't think it's really hit me yet," she said. "I guess when it hits my account, that's when it's really going to hit me." North Carolina lottery officials said on Friday they had not yet received the winning ticket, sold at a convenience store in the coastal town of Shallotte. Officials said they were contacted by an attorney representing someone claiming to have won the jackpot. They were told the prize would not be claimed immediately. The three winners will split the jackpot, which they have 180 days to claim, lottery officials noted in a news release. Winners can select a lump-sum cash payout, or opt to take annuity payments over 29 years, before taxes. "We won't know who has the winning ticket until it is brought to lottery headquarters," Alice Garland, executive director of the state lottery, said in a statement, encouraging the winner to seek professional advice before claiming the fortune. "A win like this is truly life-changing," she said. Owners of the winning tickets purchased at a food mart in Princeton, Texas, and a gas station in southern Puerto Rico have not come forward. The Powerball rolled over for nearly three months, pushing the jackpot beyond the half-billion mark until three tickets matched the numbers 11, 13, 25, 39 and 54, lottery officials said. The Powerball number was 19. The biggest Powerball jackpot awarded by the Multi-State Lottery Association was $590.5 million in May 2013 to the holder of a single winning ticket. The association's Mega Millions lottery awarded a top prize of $656 million three years ago. Powerball tickets are sold in 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are one in 175 million. (Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Bill Trott and Sandra Maler)
