Winning Powerball Numbers Dec. 17: One Lucky Ticket Holder Wins Big

One ticket matching all six numbers was sold in Saturday night's drawing of the multi-state Powerball lottery was sold in Delaware and the estimated jackpot for Wednesday's drawing will be 40-million-dollars.

A ticket with all five numbers but missing the Powerball number was sold in Vista, California and is worth almost $1.1 million.

The numbers drawn were 1 ... 8 ... 16 ...40 ... 48 and the Powerball number was 10.

The jackpot was worth $119-million-dollars.

There also were no tickets sold matching all six numbers in Saturday's SuperLotto Plus drawing ... and the estimated jackpot for Wednesday's drawing will grow to 62-million-dollars.

Five tickets matching five numbers ... but without the Mega number ... were sold and are worth just over $9,800 apiece. The winning SuperLotto numbers were 10 ... 24 ... 32 ... 34 ... 40 and the Mega number was 10. The jackpot was $61-million dollars.

Each ticket costs $2. Find out where you can buy your Powerball tickets here.

The Powerball game is played by matching five white balls in any order and the red Powerball number. The odds of picking the correct Powerball grand prize numbers are one in 292,201,338.

Saturday's jackpot was tiny when compared with January's record Powerball jackpot, which was worth nearly $1.6 billion.

Still, Americans will still drop by the nearest convenience store with dreams of cash. The billion-dollar-plus prize won in the Jan. 13 drawing was the largest lotto jackpot awarded in U.S. history and was split by three winners. Earlier in 2016, a New Hampshire player won a $478 million prize.

Claiming, Safeguarding Winnings
So, what should you do if you win the big prize? Many lottery winners hire an attorney, financial planner or both, since most people don’t exactly know what to do when they suddenly come into so much money. Some even bring their lawyer with them to claim their prize. The lottery does not offer any counseling services or advice for winners.

You have two choices when you claim your prize: the full value paid in 30 installments over 29 years, or a one-time lump sum that is smaller than the actual total.

Then there are the taxes. The federal tax on lottery winnings is 25 percent. Then, any extra income taxes like state or city would apply.

Financial experts say that if you can get more than a 3 or 4 percent return on an investment, the lump sum is actually the best way to go in the long-term.

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