CONCORD, NH – Another night and another Powerball jackpot goes unclaimed, as the Saturday, March 15th jackpot will now be worth an estimated $275 million ($135.7 million cash option). The numbers drawn Wednesday night were 12, 19, 30, 34, 36 and the Powerball was 8.
“This is the jackpot range where we start to see a lot of interest and excitement. People who don’t usual play the lottery want to get in on the buzz. They talk about it at work and dream of an early retirement,” said Executive Director Rick Wisler. “We’ve had nine previous Powerball winners in New Hampshire and we’re rooting for a tenth this weekend!”
The largest Powerball Jackpot hit in New Hampshire was $295 million dollars on August 25, 2001. Pat and Erwin Wales of Bar Mills, ME had one of four winning tickets for that prize, taking home $41.5 million. At the time it was the second largest Powerball grand prize in history, and remains the sixth largest Powerball jackpot of all time.
The most recent NH Powerball jackpot winners were Dale Chellis and Toni Sergott of Lake Zurich, Illinois. The couple was visiting family in New Hampshire when they purchased their jackpot winning ticket at the New Hampshire State Liquor & Wine Outlet in Plymouth for the drawing on April 28, 2007. They elected to take the cash option jackpot payment of approximately $32 million before taxes.
No one has hit the Powerball Jackpot since January 16th, when a $97 million jackpot winning ticket was sold in Louisiana. While the top prize wasn’t won Wednesday night, three $10,000 winning tickets were sold. Cumberland Farms in Rochester, Store 24 in Salem and 7-Eleven in Nashua all got in the action last night.
Since 1964, the New Hampshire Lottery has had a significant financial impact on the state. For the past 43 years, the New Hampshire Lottery has recorded $3.6 billion in lottery sales, with $2.4 billion being paid in prizes and other cost of sales. Net proceeds to education to date total more than $1.1 billion.
The New Hampshire Lottery Commission, located at 14 Integra Drive in Concord, currently manages all lottery operations in the state, including Instant games, New Hampshire POWERBALL®, Tri-State Megabucks?, Tri-State Paycheck, Hot Lotto Sizzler?, and Tri-State Pick3/Pick4 Daily Numbers® games.