Who Is The Powerball Winner?

One of 7,000 Powerball tickets sold at a mom-and-pop convenience store on the shores of Pell Lake, Wis., has made someone owner an instant multimillionaire.

CBS News Correspondent Frank Currier reports that a ticket sold at the Lakeside Country Store, in southern Wisconsin near the Illinois border, won Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot drawing, worth a world-record $195 million. It was the only winner, lottery officials announced Thursday morning.

The winning numbers were 4, 9, 30, 34, 48 and Powerball 8.

The winner's identity was not known, but Currier reports that the residents of the Walworth County community and the owners of the store are hoping it's someone who lives in town.

"We have a community of very hard-working people," one of the store's owners said Thursday morning. "I just hope that it's somebody we know." The store is so far off the beaten track, Currier reports, that it is a good possibility that the Powerball winner is from Pell Lake.

It was the second time the Powerball planets aligned and pointed at Wisconsin in a major way: The previous record jackpot of $111.2 million went to Leslie Robbins and Colleen DeVries of Fond du Lac in July 1993.

The winning player in Wednesday's drawing chose to receive an immediate pay-out, which means the ticket is worth $104.3 million. The full jackpot would have been paid out over 25 years at roughly $7.7 million a year.

Wednesday's jackpot was originally estimated at $175 million, but that was revised shortly before the drawing to $195 million, a total pushed up by record sales.

The consolation prize in Wednesday's drawing wasn't too shabby: There were 57 players who matched five numbers - but not the Powerball - for a $100,000 prize.

Charles Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, which operates Powerball in 20 states and Washington, D.C., said more than 72 million tickets were sold Wednesday in the Powerball states.

The giant jackpot set off a buying frenzy across the country.

CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports that Colorado residents were driving for miles to get tickets in the last few hours before the drawing.

Patrick Tomkins drove into Denver from Fort Collins, but not soon enough. He was next in line when Powerball sales closed down.

Luckier than Tomkins were two young brothers who bought $440 worth of tickets that they planned to split with 20 friends in Colorado. If one of the tickets won, each of the 22 would get $4.6 million after taxes, they calculated.

Dan Hillman brought luck with him on the drive to Denver from Parker, Colo. "You got to have a little touch to it," Hillman said. "You have to be a fool, drive a long ways, and have something lucky. This is my lucky pen here. I wave this over [the tickets] because of this lucky Christmas pen."

Ticket buyers had a better chance of being struck by ligtning, going down in a plane crash, or being a guest on David Letterman's show. But that didn't stop the dreaming.

"They're coming all the way from Memphis and from Arkansas," said Hattie Vines, manager of the Chevron gas station in Delta, La., just across the state line from Vicksburg, Miss.

Richard Meinen of Toledo, Ohio, drove 80 miles west to Angola, Ind., to buy a ticket. "The jackpot got so big, we couldn't ignore it," Meinen said.

Doug Orr, the Multi-State Lottery's marketing production coordinator, said 138.5 million of the $1 tickets were sold between Sunday and 59 minutes before Wednesday's drawing.

Indiana, which is bordered on the east and west by states where Powerball is not played, reported sales of 11,000 per minute.

Powerball is played in Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

It all starts over again Saturday, when the jackpot shrinks to a mere $10 million.