Lottery fever hits Mid-Missouri

Customers line up for chance at $1.5 billion jackpot

The largest Powerball in history is keeping cashiers like Tammy Pearon very busy. Pearon works in the customer service department at Schulte's Fresh Foods and said people were lined up at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning to purchase their shot at winning a fortune. The Missouri Lottery informational board only registers three digits so even though the amount is well over it, it only reads $999 million.
The largest Powerball in history is keeping cashiers like Tammy Pearon very busy. Pearon works in the customer service department at Schulte's Fresh Foods and said people were lined up at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning to purchase their shot at winning a fortune. The Missouri Lottery informational board only registers three digits so even though the amount is well over it, it only reads $999 million.

Mid-Missouri residents joined the rest of the country in droves to buy tickets for a chance to win the biggest lottery prize of all time.

Wednesday's estimated $1.5 billion Powerball drawing brought a steady flow of customers to the service desk at Schulte's Fresh Foods on Southwest Boulevard.

Joe Caldwell, of Jefferson City, who normally doesn't play Powerball, bought five tickets.

"I play Scratchers, but with the jackpot this big, I had to play," he laughed. "I use the birth dates of my children and grandchildren when I play."

Caldwell said it was hard to imagine what he'd do if he was lucky enough to win the grand prize.

"I definitely would want to get plenty of advice," he said. "Make sure I got a tax consultant and put it in a safe place."

Powerball players can choose to receive the jackpot in 30 graduated payments over 29 years or in one cash payment. Jackpot winners have 60 days from the winning draw date to choose cash or the annuity payment. After 60 days, unclaimed jackpot prizes can only be claimed with the annuity payment.

If the winner chooses the single cash payment, he or she will receive more than half of the advertised amount in one lump sum. Wednesday's cash option would bring a single player approximately $930 million in one payment, before taxes.

The Missouri Lottery withholds 25 percent federal and 4 percent state taxes for a total of 29 percent.

George Daly, of Jefferson City, bought five tickets for his wife, who regularly plays the game.

"We're retired, so we're not going to just go crazy if we win," he said. "If we win that's fine, and if we don't it's not the end of the world."

Employees at Schulte's said customers were there Wednesday morning when they opened at 6 a.m. to buy tickets. One person asked to buy 100 tickets, but employees said they couldn't do that because it would tie up their machines.

Next door to Schulte's at the Missouri Lottery headquarters, spokesperson Susan Goedde said the store that sells the winning ticket gets a $50,000 bonus.

"All of our games have seen an increase in people playing them," she said. "That happens whenever we have a big jackpot available."

Goedde said nearly $23 million worth of Powerball tickets were sold within the last week in Missouri. In a normal week, it's around $1.6 million.

Since this current Powerball run, more than $41 million in tickets has been sold.

Of the 47 lotteries that offer Powerball, Missouri is ranked second in terms of Powerball winners with 31. Indiana is first with 38.

More than $2.2 billion in Powerball jackpots has been won by Missouri Lottery players during the past 23 years, and this past year, Missouri ranked eighth in terms of sales among the member lotteries.

See also:

Winning Powerball ticket sold in Los Angeles area