$758M Powerball Ticket Sold In MA Town — But Lottery Mixes Up Location

WATERTOWN, MA — The lone $758.7 million winning Powerball ticket for Wednesday's drawing was sold in Massachusetts. But the people who got their hopes up in Watertown of being instant mega-millionaires were let down Thursday morning by the Massachusetts State Lottery. While the Handy Convenience Store on Common Street did end up selling a $1 million winning ticket, the historic record ticket was actually sold on the other side of the state in Chicopee, despite what lottery officials had said originally.

The Pride Station & Store on Montgomery Street in Chicopee sold the winning $758.7 million ticket, the State Lottery said in a release prefaced by "CORRECTION" shortly after 8 a.m. The Lottery had sent out a release about seven hours earlier saying the ticket was sold in Watertown.

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The flub was due to a transcribing error, the Lottery said in a 10 a.m. statement.

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"When manually recording the names of the retailers that sold the jackpot winning ticket and the $1 million winning tickets, the information was transcribed incorrectly," Executive Director of the Mass. State Lottery Michael Sweeney said. "We apologize for the confusion this created and remain thrilled that a jackpot winning ticket and two $1 million winning tickets were sold here in Massachusetts."

There was also a $1 million winning ticket sold at Sandy's Variety on Washington Street in Dorchester.

Bob Bolduc, the owner of Pride Market, said he will donate the store's $50,000 bonus to local charities, according to The Associated Press.

Mavis Wanczyk of Springfield accepted the winning jackpot Thursday afternoon at the State Lottery headquarters in Braintree. The 53-year-old hospital worker said winning the lottery was "a pipe dream."

The jackpot represents the largest lottery prize taken home by a single ticket in the history of North America. The largest Powerball prize was a $1.5 billion jackpot last January, but that was split by three winners.

Massachusetts won't automatically have a new $758 million man or woman. Taxes take a big bite out of the winnings. Here is how much the winner would have been able to take home at the originally reported jackpot of $700 million, courtesy of USAMega:

• If the winner opts for the annuity option, you receive 30 average annual payouts of $23,333,333. But Uncle Sam takes an average of $5,833,333, and Massachusetts takes an average of $1,166,667. So you're really getting an average of $16,333,333 per year - still enough to net $489,999,990. The first year's payout would net $7,375,203, and payments would increase until a $30,357,337 payout in 30 years.
• If the winner opst for the lump sum cash payout, as most do, then he or she is being awarded $443,300,000. That's before federal taxes take $110,825,000 and state taxes take another $22,165,000. Then the $700 million jackpot winning ends up being $310,310,000.

Patch will update this story

Google Maps image of Handy Variety