Powerball has at least three winners in $1.6 billion jackpot
Published 8:05 am Thursday, January 14, 2016
- How not to squander the $800 million Powerball jackpot
CHINO HILLS, Calif. – In a crowded parking lot and a packed 7-Eleven store on the corner of Chino Hills Parkway and Pipeline Avenue in suburban Los Angeles, residents and Powerball lottery players were chanting: “Chino Hills! Chino Hills! Chino Hills!”
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This 7-Eleven, owned by Balbir Atwal, sold one of the winning tickets in Wednesday’s world-record $1.6 billion jackpot drawing. Atwal discovered his store sold the ticket from news reports; his customers found out from the news, Facebook and Instagram. Not long after, a crush of people, and a cavalcade of hulking television news vans, showed up at his store, and many didn’t leave until close to 11 p.m.
“I feel very good, some lucky customer came here and made me famous,” said Atwal, who has owned this store since 1994 and owns three others in Yorba Linda, Diamond Bar and La Habra. The 57-year-old said he might use his share – $1 million, minus some shared with 7-Eleven – to help his employees and help young people go to college. In the meantime, Atwal offered a more modest gift to his customers: free Slurpees.
The scene in Chino Hills capped weeks of lottery fever as the Powerball jackpot built up to a historic high. There were at least three lucky winners, according to a California Lottery spokesman: one in Chino Hills, one in Tennessee and one in Florida. The winning numbers were 8-27-34-4-19 and Powerball: 10. The jackpot will be split among the winners.
No information about the winners was available at press time. So, if you bought your ticket in Florida, Tennessee or Chino Hills, check it closely. And feel free to reach out if you want to talk to us – even to gloat.
The crowd in Chino Hills was heavy on millennials, who were taking selfies with Atwal and two of the store’s managers. Terell Love worked his way behind the counter to get a photograph with the owner.
“This is crazy,” the 17-year-old Love, who attends Chino Hills High School, said. “Out of the whole country, and it could have been anyone, Chino Hills gets the winning numbers. This puts Chino Hills on the map.”
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Chino Hills resident Shari Davis, 51, came by the store to support the community. She bought her ticket at an Arco station across the street.
“I needed to get gas,” she said. “So I bought my ticket there.”
Balbir Gosal has managed the Chino Hills store for 11 years and worked 12-hour shifts for the last four days selling tickets. He said he thinks he’s the one who sold the customer the winning ticket. When someone asked him what he’s going to say to the winner, Gosal’s 21-year-old niece chimed in: “He’s going to say, ‘Where is my cut?”’
Nelson Moreno, 53, drove from Moreno Valley to witness the excitement. He bought $80 worth of lottery tickets, some in his home city, some in Irvine, and a few in Los Angeles. He, like many on Wednesday night, was hoping to get a chance to talk to the winner.
“Maybe if he comes, he will give us some money,” Moreno said.
Jeff Stander, the marketing manager for 7-Eleven stores in the Greater Los Angeles area, which includes the Chino Hills store, was not sure how $1 million Powerball bonus will be divided between 7-Eleven and Atwal’s franchise. However, when he saw that Atwal was giving away Slurpees, he just smiled.
As the celebration continued in Chino Hills, lottery websites around the country crashed as players checked to see if they won what is perhaps the most-talked-about lottery in history.
California lotto officials also said they sold 12 tickets that got five numbers right – but not the Powerball.
A Powerball winner was not guaranteed. Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the California State Lottery, told the Los Angeles Times that 86 percent of all possible combinations were chosen.
“This is exciting,” he said. “I hope we have a winner today.”