While someone next door in Wisconsin hit one of the largest Powerball jackpots in history, someone else a stone's throw away in Minnesota bought a ticket good for $2 million in the same drawing.
The $2 Minnesota ticket matched all five white balls drawn Wednesday night but missed the Powerball number.
That ticket was sold in Stillwater at the Holiday gas station at 2500 Orleans St., a Minnesota Lottery spokeswoman said Thursday, and that retailer will be given $5,000 for selling the ticket.
Coming that close normally would mean winnings of $1 million. But that player, along with another fortune hunter in Kansas, doubled the prize to $2 million because the tickets included the Power Play option for an additional $1.
The winner has a year to check in with Minnesota Lottery headquarters in Roseville and claim the prize.
The net amount pocketed will be adjusted downward for tax purposes and should the winner choose to take the loot in a lump sum, rather than spread it out over a number of years.
The $768.4 million ticket for the jackpot was sold in New Berlin, near Milwaukee, and is the third-largest behind the world record $1.59 billion Powerball jackpot shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee in January 2016, and the $1.54 billion Mega Millions jackpot won in South Carolina last October.
The winning numbers are 16, 20, 37, 44 and 62. The Powerball number is 12. Powerball lists the odds for winning the grand prize as 1 in 292,201,338.
