Golden State indeed! Powerball lightning strikes twice in California
California Powerball
officials are waiting for the winner of Wednesday night's big jackpot to step
forward. The
winning ticket - the only winning ticket - from the $425 million jackpot
was sold at a Chevron gas station in Milpitas, Calif., just north of San Jose.
But this isn't the area's
first big winner.
California's
enjoyed some recent luck with picking lotto winners, CBS News' Ben Tracy reported on "CBS This Morning." A winning
ticket for last year's half-a-billion-dollar jackpot was sold at a gift shop in
San Jose, just 13 miles away.
In this case, the winner could opt for the lump sum
payout, an estimated $242 million. The odds of winning this sixth-largest jackpot in U.S. history were just 1 in 175 million.
Lotto officials say it's pretty rare to have just one winner, as in this case. Alex Traverso, spokesman for the California Lottery, said, "You're seeing a ton of ticket sales nationally, so odds are you're going to see multiple winners. If it were me, I would be camped out in front of the district office location waiting to cash that ticket."
Others were not so lucky, however. One woman said, "My coworker just called me right now. She's like, 'Did you buy your ticket at the Chevron?' I was like, 'No.' She's goes, 'Oh my God, someone just hit it there.' Crazy! Could have been me."