BROWARD COUNTY (CBSMiami) – Four Broward County Powerball players came extremely close to winning part of a $241 million jackpot. While they’re all still winners for picking five correct numbers, what’s really amazing is that all of the winning tickets were sold at Publix supermarkets in Broward County.
The tickets were purchased in Pembroke Pines, Weston, Plantation and Coral Springs, according to CBS4 News partner The Miami Herald.
Each player matched all five of the white balls but missed on the red powerball, and therefore missed out on the $241 million jackpot prize.
Though they didn’t win the giant jackpot, three of the four winners will take home at least $1 million and the fourth winner will take home $2 million because he or she doubled the winnings by purchasing a Power Play ticket.
Only one of the winners had been identified by Thursday: $1 million winner Mario Chiong, 67, of Pembroke Pines.
In a statement, the manager of the Florida Lottery’s Miami District, Tom Dolan, said he “can’t recall seeing anything as statistically improbable as having four millionaires generated from the same chain, in the same county, on the same night.”
Publix is the state’s largest lottery vendor, so the fact that the supermarket sold all four winning tickets is perhaps the most unremarkable piece of the equation.
“We sell a lot of the tickets from Publix,” said lottery spokeswoman Shelly Safford.
Broward County is also second-highest in the state when it comes to Powerball sales, just behind Miami-Dade.
The ultimate jackpot of $241 million will go to someone in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Just in case you bought your ticket in Weston, Plantation or Coral Springs and want to check, the winning numbers were: 7, 10, 14, 33 and 57, plus the Powerball number of 18.
Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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