Three winners from Florida, Tennessee and California will share the record-breaking $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot — the biggest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.
Lottery officials confirmed three tickets matched all six winning numbers — 08, 27, 34, 04, 19, and the Powerball, 10.
The $1.6 billion jackpot will be chopped down to $930 million if the winners choose the lump sum option. From there the three winners will each take home a check for $187 million after taxes.
A 7-Eleven clerk who sold the winning ticket in Chino Hills, California celebrated with over 100 people after the first winning ticket was confirmed to be sold there.
The 7-Eleven store will receive a small percentage of the jackpot for selling the winning ticket.
The Powerball frenzy sparked numerous hoaxes on social media.
The so-called “King of Instagram”, narcissist Dan Blizerian, announced he bought $100,000 worth of Powerball tickets.
A Twitter user posted a photo of a fake winning ticket and tweeted “[Hit Me Up] if you want a mil #Powerball.”
But experts say lottery winners rarely find happiness even after winning millions. Lottery winners often find they are overwhelmed with problems they never had to worry about before.
“The perception is that you’re never going to worry about money again. In fact, you’re going to have to worry about it more than you ever, ever have before,” Paul Golden, a spokesman for the Denver-based non-profit National Endowment for Financial Education, told NBC News.
“All of a sudden you’re kind of a celebrity, and a celebrity that people want to take advantage of,” said Ron Riggio, a psychology professor who studies lottery winners.
Horror stories abound of past lottery winners whose lives ended in despair, tragedy and death.
“Everybody dreams of winning money, but nobody realizes the nightmares that come out of the woodwork, or the problems,” said William “Bud” Post, a Pennsylvania man who won $162 million in 1998.
“I was much happier when I was broke,” said Post, who died in 2006.
