Louise White, 81, of Newport, R.I., is the winner of the one of the biggest lottery jackpots in U.S. history.
The annuity prize - $336.4 million - was the sixth biggest ever, and the cash value of $210 million beat the previous record set by a New York ticket a year ago. (See list of biggest cash prizes: http://bit.ly/wqggGW.)
White, who stepped forward to face the media this morning, opted for the cash, which will go into her "Rainbow Sherbet Trust."
It was named after the item she went to get at the Newport Stop & Shop, where she bought the ticket.
Two other cash jackpots were bigger, but both were split.
The largest was $240 million, from a Mega Millions jackpot in January last year. But it was split by winners in Idaho and Washington State. The annuity was worth $380 million, second most ever.
The March 6, 2007, Mega Millions drawing produced the biggest annuity on record, $390 million, and the cash of $233.1 million was divided between a Cape May County couple and a Georgia trucker.
The February jackpot was Powerball's third biggest annuity prize ever. The biggest, $365 million, was won in February 2006 by a single Nebraska ticket, but the cash payout was about $177 million.
Interest rates explain the difference. When they're high, less cash is needed to jack up annuities.
Mega Millions moolah. In regional lottery news, a few winners of $250,000 winners in Mega Millions turn out to have purchased their tickets in Reading, Easton and Edison, N.J., while $1 million was won in Newark, N.J.
That game's jackpot, by the way, is up to $127 million - or $93 million cash - for tonight's drawing.
No one hit all the numbers Friday night, but two Pennsylvania tickets and two more in New Jersey just missed. They matched the first five numbers - 16, 29, 48, 52 and 54 - but not the Mega Ball of 5.
Winning $1 million, because the player also had the Megaplier option, was a ticket sold at the Garden Cafe, Bergen Street in Newark.
Winning $250,000 were tickets purchased at Weis Markets, State Street in Hamburg, north of Reading in Berks County; Herman's Service Center, Main Street in Tatamy, Pa., north of Easton, in Northampton County; and at the Raceway, Lincoln Highway in Edison, Middlesex County, N.J.
For more on lotteries, go to www.palottery.com, www.njlottery.net and www.philly.com/philly/news/lottery.
