Millions Expected from Powerball
***UPDATE***(AP) – Powerball officials say the record jackpot has been won.Early Thursday morning officials confirmed that two winning tickets were sold: One in Arizona and one in Missouri. An additional 8,924,123 players won smaller prizes.The numbers drawn Wednesday night are: 5, 16, 22, 23, 29 and Powerball of 6.A lottery official said late Wednesday that the jackpot increased to $579.9 million by the time of the drawing, making the cash option $379.8 million.The drawing Wednesday night for the Multi-State Lottery Association’s prize followed 16 consecutive drawings that produced no top winner, boosting the Powerball to the second-largest potential lottery payout in U.S. history.Tickets earlier Wednesday were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide, the jackpot enticing many people who rarely, if ever, play the lottery.***UPDATE 10 P.M.***Winning $580 million Powerball numbers: 5-23-16-22-29 and Powerball: 6.***ORIGINAL STORY***Tonight’s Powerball jackpot stands at a record $550 million and millions of Americans are trying to win. In Missouri, residents were buying 8,300 tickets every minute.The state is expecting to get a $27 million profit from this week’s Powerball drawing. Of that profit, $10 million will go straight to education in Missouri. So as Missourians flocked to buy their Powerball tickets, we tracked where the money will go.”About 96 percent of every dollar goes back to Missouri and stays in Missouri,” said Susan Goedde of the Missouri Lottery. “Lottery money is supporting education, whether it’s your local school, whether it’s your bus coming to your house, your special needs child, it’s everywhere.”To make it simple, on average, for every dollar spent on a Missouri lottery ticket, a quarter will go to education. However, when it comes to the Powerball, even more money goes to education. For the Powerball, 37 cents of every dollar goes to fund both higher education and teaching children, giving millions of dollars to programs across the state.”It really makes a difference for districts all across the state,” said Sarah Potter of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.Every year, lawmakers decide how much lottery money to budget for schools. Elementary and secondary education will get $181 million for the 2013 fiscal year.”There are about 13 programs within elementary and secondary education, there are several state schools it goes to along with some community schools and other scholarships,” said Goedde.Lottery officials say the benefits do not just stop at education. The gambling profits help the local economy as well.”About 65 cents goes to players as prizes, another six cents goes to retailers, and a little more than four cents is used for administrative costs,” said Goedde.Officials say Missouri is the state with the second highest number of Powerball winners. The state has had 26 winners and officials are hoping for a 27th winner.
