‘POWER’ BROKER
1 of 2 winning $688M lottery tickets sold at Harlem deli
At least one New Yorker is likely having a really good Sunday.
One of two winning tickets for the $688 million Powerball jackpot was sold at a Harlem deli ahead of Saturday night’s drawing, officials said. It was the fourthlargest payoff in U.S. history.
The winning numbers were 8, 12, 13, 19 and 27, and Powerball 4. The jackpot was about $62 million less than originally estimated.
The ticket was sold at West Harlem Deli at 2040 Fifth Ave. at 126th St. in Manhattan.
“I come here every day,” Karlyn Norris, a Harlem resident who works across the street from the deli, told the Daily News. “I buy my food, I buy my lotto, I buy my everything. I wish I knew who won. I’m excited. There’s a lot of homeless shelters around here. Somebody deserves it.”
Jose Espinoza, the deli owner’s son, said the hoopla has caused him and his father headaches.
“You have to wait until the person (who won) comes,” he said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, we won.’ We have to wait.”
Espinoza said the person who purchased the winning ticket has yet to come forward, and he has no clue who it may be.
“I don’t know who it is,” he said. “A lot of people come here.”
The Iowa winner purchased the other golden ticket at Casey’s convenience store in Redfield.
Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich said Sunday that state lottery officials are stunned that one of the tickets was sold in the rural town.
The shared win comes just a few days after someone won a $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot in South Carolina.
Powerball is played in 44 states, plus Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
While the South Carolina winner will have the option to maintain his or her privacy, the New York and Iowa winners will not.
Powerball winners have a year to claim the prize.