Some hope California winner of $447M Powerball helps area

LOS ANGELES (AP):

A sole winning Powerball ticket worth $447.8 million and matching all six numbers was sold in Southern California and will claim the 10th largest lottery prize in US history, lottery officials said yesterday.

The winning ticket was sold at Marietta Liquor & Deli in the small city of Menifee, the California Lottery said in a statement. Lottery officials said the earliest the ticket could be redeemed is 8 a.m. on Monday, and the winner has one year to claim the prize.

The store, just off a highway, caters to retirees who live in the Sun City part of Menifee that was originally developed as a retirement community, as well as to motorists passing through the area about 80 miles (130 kilometres) from Los Angeles.

Liquor store owner Matthew Alberre said he does not know which of his customers won the jackpot or what his family will do with the $1-million bonus set aside for the retailer that sells the winning ticket.

"We're so blessed for this to happen," said Alberre, who owns the store with his father.

The year began terribly for the family because Alberre's father was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis.

"Starting out the year, it seemed like it was going to be the worst year in the world, and six months later, our store hit the Powerball. We're very, very grateful for this to happen to our store," Alberre said.

RESIDENTS WONDERING

Sun City residents were wondering if they might know the winner.

At a breakfast at the local Knights of Columbus organisation, Armand Blais said people there hoped the ticket holder lived in their community and would assist their efforts to build a new church.

Menifee Mayor Neil Winter said he hoped a local resident bought the winning ticket at the store in a heavily visited intersection that has sold winners before, but never for so much.

"There's a lot of good folks over there, so, hopefully, one of our Menifee folks won," he said.

The lucky numbers drawn Saturday night were 20-26-32-38-58, and the Powerball number was 3.

Powerball spokesman Randy Miller said the estimated jackpot prize is based on a winner choosing an annuity, which pays off over 29 years. The cash prize would be $279.1 million. Both prize amounts would be before taxes are deducted.