A Small-Town Mystery: Who Won $590M Powerball?

Zephyrhills residents wonder if they know jackpot winner
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 20, 2013 1:01 AM CDT
Updated May 20, 2013 2:53 AM CDT
$590M Jackpot Sets Small Florida Town Abuzz
The highest-ever Powerball jackpot, worth an estimated $590.5 million, was sold recently at this supermarket in Zephyrhills, Florida.   (AP Photo/Scott Iskowitz)

As the winner of the $590.5 million Powerball jackpot wonders whether to take the annuity or a $370 million lump sum, the people of Zephyrhills are wondering who among them may now be incredibly rich. The winning ticket was sold in a Publix supermarket in the Florida town, population 13,337, reports the AP, which notes that the prize money is more than 12 times the town's annual budget. Before the jackpot, the town was best known for its skydiving.

Zephyrhills residents say that if the winner turns out to be a local instead of somebody passing through on US 301, they hope the money will help the town—though some say they would have other plans if they won the jackpot. "It's awesome it was bought here, but I think it was random and the guy or girl who won it will move," one resident tells the Tampa Bay Times. "If it was me, I wouldn't tell anyone. I'd run." Whoever the winner is, they won't be able to claim their prize until lottery offices open this morning. (More Powerball stories.)

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