Jackpot

No one won Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot but a ticket sold in New Jersey scored for $1 million. The New Jersey Lottery says the ticket was sold at the Super Stop & Shop, 24 Summerfield Blvd., South Brunswick, Middlesex County. The winning numbers were 3, 7, 21, 28 and 43 with the Powerball 2. Five other tickets sold in other parts of the country also had the first five numbers but not the Powerball. One ticket each sold in Wisconsin and West Virginia also won $1 million while one ticket each sold in Colorado, Wisconsin and Oklahoma won $2 million because the buyers opted for the powerplay option.

There are lottery odds and lottery balls. But lotteries also have oddballs and oddities, as recent news stories show. Recall the McDonald's worker in Maryland who told reporters her personal ticket, not her pool's, won a piece of March's record Mega Millions jackpot. Mirlande Wilson then said she lost the ticket, only to be proven she was mistaken about ever having it, when three educators from the Baltimore area claimed the prize — and vowed to continue working. The latest case involves a trashed ticket worth $1 million.

WE ARE GOBSMACKED. We don't know any other word that goes beyond shocked, and it suggests the glob of spit that we're wiping out of our eyes at the latest arrogance from Harrisburg. That would be the debate late last week in the state Senate over the gaming bill that came down to this: not WHETHER lawmakers can own a piece of gaming parlor, but HOW MUCH they can own. When the debate started, the amount was limited to 5 percent, but they got that figure "down" to 1 percent before the bill finally passed on Sunday.

Chances are somebody is going to get very rich this week. Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot is an all-time U.S. record of $255 million for the cash, and $356 million for the annuity, the fourth highest ever. No jackpot this big has ever rolled over. If it does, expect the first annuity ever of more than $400 million. The record is $390 million, set by Mega Millions in March 2007. If sales are frenzied enough, the jackpot could get revised upward before the drawing.

Dale Henhaffer of Cherry Hill cashed his chips in on a 15-year friendship in early 1984 when he refused to share a $327,000 slot machine jackpot he'd won with pooled money. Yesterday, Henhaffer's friend, Karen Quitmeyer of Brigantine, N.J., was dealt the winning hand when a three-judge panel in New Jersey Superior Court's Appellate Division upheld her right to half the jackpot. The panel agreed with an Atlantic County jury that found Henhaffer, 30, had played the slot machine with three quarters from a "common fund" shared with Quitmeyer, who sued him for half the winnings.

For Thomas Kearney it wasn't a dream, only a piece of one. Just 10 percent. Of $6.4 million. And he almost lost it. Until earlier this week, that is, when a Florida jury said the piece was rightfully his and ordered the estate of George Moore to honor the dead man's promise - and continue paying Kearney one-tenth of the New Jersey Lottery jackpot that Moore won in 1986 when he lived in Philadelphia. For Kearney, 48, of Glendora, that means $25,000 annually over the next 18 years and a return to the retirement plans he built around his winnings.

Philadelphia had its biggest lottery win ever Wednesday night, as a Powerball ticket bought at the Newsstand at the Gallery was the only one in the country to match all the numbers drawn. They were 4, 25, 29, 34 and 43, with a Powerball of 29. The jackpot was worth $172.7 million in 30 yearly payments, or $107.7 million cash. Only one ticket in Pennsylvania history snagged a bigger payout. The annuity jackpot was worth $213.2 million, when a Bucks County ticket bought by Steve and Kristine White had the combination to the vault in May 2004.

Both major multistate jackpots produced big winners this week - and rebooted. Wednesday night, two Powerball tickets - sold in Montana and Ohio - matched all the numbers drawn. They'll split a jackpot whose annuity value was put at $96.9 million. A Maine ticket won $1 million for matching the first five numbers - 11, 30, 45, 47 and 48 - while having the Power Play multiplier option. That player missed only the Powerball, which was 10. Winning $200,000 for matching just the first five were three tickets, sold in Florida, Georgia and Massachusetts.

One Saturday last month, John and Rita Sadlier found themselves with nothing to do. So by 6 o'clock, they were on the Atlantic City Expressway, headed to Bally's Grand for dinner and a little fun at the gaming machines. At 7:27 p.m., Sept. 17, the Sadliers were millionaires. "When the five golden nuggets flashed in front of me, I was speechless," John Sadlier said this week after returning to work at his Main Line service station. "I just couldn't believe it. " Sadlier estimates that he spent $26 to become $2.5 million richer.

Fifty thousand dollars. Cold cash. Just lying there. No one around. Mmmmmmmmm, very nice, very tempting. So it was for Walter Emenecker at the Trump Castle Casino Resort in Atlantic City yesterday. A plumber at the casino, he was working on the fourth floor when he saw seven bundles of $100 bills near the escalator. It was 5:20 a.m., and the temple of chance was seductively deserted. "You definitely review your values when you look at that amount of money," Emenecker said.

No one won Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot but a ticket sold in New Jersey scored for $1 million. The New Jersey Lottery says the ticket was sold at the Super Stop & Shop, 24 Summerfield Blvd., South Brunswick, Middlesex County. The winning numbers were 3, 7, 21, 28 and 43 with the Powerball 2. Five other tickets sold in other parts of the country also had the first five numbers but not the Powerball. One ticket each sold in Wisconsin and West Virginia also won $1 million while one ticket each sold in Colorado, Wisconsin and Oklahoma won $2 million because the buyers opted for the powerplay option.

Someone bought a Match 6 Lotto ticket in Montgomery County, and did. Match 6, that is. The payoff: $700.000. Before taxes. The place of purchase: Lukoil, 1450 Old York Rd., Abington. Monday's numbers drawn: 22, 26, 30, 37, 39 and 48. Thursday's jackpot: $500,000. Pick Six rises again in Jersey. No one has hit New Jersey's Pick Six since mid-December. With no winner Monday night, the jackpot climbs again, this time, for Thursday's drawing, to $15.6 million for the annuity, $11.5 million for the cash.

No such luck this time for Philadelphia. The latest Mega Millions jackpot, worth $118 million as an annuity, was won by a ticket purchased at a Citgo in Glenwood, Ill. The April 25 Powerball jackpot, worth $107.5 million cash, was claimed Friday by a group of 49 SEPTA workers, who bought their tickets at the Gallery in Center City. The Illinois ticket was the only one to match all of Friday's numbers: 4, 11, 21, 42, and 53, with a Mega Ball of 38. Missing only the Mega Ball were tickets sold in New York, Ohio, Tennesse, Illinois, California and Washington.

Thanks to a lucky lunch break - or was it the power of prayer? - the four dozen happiest people in Philadelphia were introduced to an envious public Friday as they claimed a Powerball jackpot worth $107.5 million in cash. They filled rows of chairs at a late-morning news conference, telecast live from SEPTA headquarters. Most of them have worked for the transit agency for tenures of less than a year to 42 years. Ranging in age from 26 to 69, including some who were already retired, they vowed that no further media meet-and-greets would be granted.

Thanks to a lucky lunch break — or was it the power of prayer? — the four dozen happiest people in Philadelphia were introduced to an envious public today as they claimed a Powerball jackpot worth $107,533,238.27 in cash. They filled rows of chairs at a late morning news conference, telecast live from SEPTA headquarters, where most of them have worked for tenures of less than a year to 42 years. Ranging in age from 26 to 69, including some who were already retired, they vowed no further media meet and greets would be granted.

Now we know what unlucky numbers look like. In last night's Powerball drawing, 7, 8, 33, 38 and 50 came up, along with a Powerball of 29, producing one of the stingiest payouts in a year. No one hit the jackpot. No one matched the first five numbers, so no one won the $1 million or $2 million prizes. In Pennsylvania, nobody even won the $10,000 or $40,000 prizes. The biggest prize was $200, and only 21 tickets won that. Nationwide, less than $2.6 million was won. In April, the average non-jackpot payout was almost $11 million.

The latest Powerball jackpot made a little history, and nearly made a little more, when the Newsstand at the Gallery sold the ticket that won Wednesday's drawing. It was, indeed, the biggest jackpot ever hit in Philadelphia: $172.7 million in 30 annual payments, or $107.5 million cash. The old record: $52 million for the annuity, $26.9 million for cash, hit by a ticket sold by University Deli in West Philadelphia in May 2004. It was claimed by brothers Jim Hare of Philadelphia and Tom Hare of Drexel Hill.

There are lottery odds and lottery balls. But lotteries also have oddballs and oddities, as recent news stories show. Recall the McDonald's worker in Maryland who told reporters her personal ticket, not her pool's, won a piece of March's record Mega Millions jackpot. Mirlande Wilson then said she lost the ticket, only to be proven she was mistaken about ever having it, when three educators from the Baltimore area claimed the prize — and vowed to continue working. The latest case involves a trashed ticket worth $1 million.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday, workers at SEPTA's offices broke out in cheers and raced through hallways to spread the good news: Forty-eight employees shared in Wednesday's jackpot-winning Powerball ticket worth $172.7 million. "It was a party atmosphere," said Richard Maloney, director of public affairs. The workers, most employed in SEPTA's purchasing department at the Market Street headquarters, stand to collect about $3.6 million each if they take the 30-year annuity payment, or $2.5 million each if they take the one-time payout.