A Massachusetts hospital worker has won the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot, and says she always thought winning the lottery was “a pipe dream.”.
The Latest on the lone winning ticket for the $758.7 million Powerball drawing that was sold in Chicopee, Massachusetts (all times local) :
1: 30 p.m.
A Massachusetts hospital worker has claimed the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot, and says she always thought winning the lottery was “a pipe dream.”
Fifty-three-year-old Mavis L. Wanczyk (WON’-zick) , of Chicopee, says she was leaving work at night with a Chicopee firefighter, and they were discussing Powerball.
That’s when she realized she won. She says he followed her home to make sure she got there safely.
Wanczyk says the first thing she wants to do is sit back and relax. She says she has called work to let them know she won’t be back.
Wanczyk has two adult children, a daughter and a son.
Lottery officials say she chose to take a lump sum payment of $480 million, or $336 million after taxes.
It’s the largest grand prize won by a single lottery ticket in U. S. history.
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Noon
The head of the Massachusetts lottery says the winner of the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot has come forward to claim the prize.
Michael Sweeney, the lottery’s executive director, says the winner will be introduced at 1 p.m. at lottery headquarters. All he would say about the winner is that it is an individual woman.
A store in Chicopee, Massachusetts, sold the only ticket that won the jackpot. It’s the largest grand prize won by a single lottery ticket in U. S. history.
Sweeney also apologized for the lottery’s erroneous announcement early Thursday that the winning ticket had been sold at a store in Watertown. He blamed it on human error.
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10: 30 a.m.
The owner of the store that sold the lone winning Powerball ticket says he’s donating the store’s $50,000 prize to several local charities.
Bob Bolduc owns the Pride store chain. One of its stores, in Chicopee, Massachusetts, sold the only ticket that won the $758.7 million jackpot. It’s the largest grand prize won by a single lottery ticket in U. S. history.
He says once they heard that the winning ticket was sold Wednesday afternoon, store workers looked it up on the surveillance video and believe the winner was a middle-aged woman.
Bolduc says they’re happy for the customer, and happy for the charities.
The lottery says the winner still had not come forward as of midmorning Thursday.
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10 a.m.
The head of the Massachusetts State Lottery says a transcription error led the organization to wrongly identify the store that sold the lone winning Powerball ticket.
In a statement issued Thursday morning, lottery Executive Director Michael Sweeney says officials were manually recording the names of the retailers that sold the winning ticket for the $758.7 million jackpot, as well as two tickets that won $1 million prizes. He says they transcribed it incorrectly.
Sweeney issued an apology for the confusion created by the error, but said lottery staff remained thrilled that a jackpot winning ticket and two $1 million winning tickets were sold in Massachusetts.
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9 a.m.
The Massachusetts store that sold the winning Powerball ticket was initially told it sold a $1 million ticket, not the only ticket that won the $758.7 million jackpot.
Mike Donatelli, a spokesman for the Pride Station & Store in Chicopee, Massachusetts, says they were told shortly before 8 a.m. that the store had actually sold that ticket. The jackpot is the largest grand prize won by a single lottery ticket in U. S. history.
Donatelli says the founder of the chain, Bob Bolduc, plans to hold news conferences at 10 a.m. and at noon. The store is part of a chain that operates in western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut.
The Chicopee store will receive $50,000 for selling the winning ticket.
Lottery officials had initially said a different store, near Boston, had sold the winning ticket. That store actually sold a ticket that won $1 million.
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8: 30 a.m.
The error by the Massachusetts State Lottery over which store sold the lone winning Powerball ticket is being blamed on nerves.
Michael Sweeney, the lottery’s executive director, tells WBZ-AM they had a “couple of excited people at 1 o’clock in the morning” but said if there’s any blame to be placed, the buck stops with him.
The lottery initially said a convenience store in Watertown had sold the winning ticket. A few hours later, it announced it had made a mistake, and that the winning ticket was sold across the state at the Pride Station & Store in Chicopee, in Western Massachusetts.
Sweeney says the lottery had not yet heard from the winner.
He said the Chicopee store will receive $50,000 for selling the winning ticket, he said.
He said the store in Watertown did sell a ticket that won a $1 million prize.
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8 a.m.
Massachusetts State Lottery officials have corrected the site where the single winning ticket for the Powerball $758.7 million jackpot was sold to Chicopee, not Watertown.
The Massachusetts State Lottery had announced around 2: 30 a.m. Thursday that a convenience store in Watertown, near Boston, had sold the winning ticket.
But shortly before 8 a.m., the lottery said it had made a mistake, and that the winning ticket was sold across the state at the Pride Station & Store in Chicopee, in Western Massachusetts.
The lottery did not say how the error was made .
It said the store in Watertown did sell a ticket that won a $1 million prize.
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