The owner of a small convenience store in a coal mining town in western Maryland never expected to sell the winning ticket of the state’s largest lottery prize ever — the $731 million Powerball jackpot.
But Coney Market, a convenience store in Lonaconing in Allegany County, did just that, Maryland Lottery announced Thursday. The store will receive a $100,000 cash bonus from the state for selling the ticket of the fifth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
“We’re all excited. The phone’s been ringing off the hook all morning,” said Richard Ravenscroft, owner of the Coney Market, noting that the odds for selling the winning ticket were very, very low. (The odds for buying the winning ticket are about 292 million to 1.)
Mr. Ravenscroft, who bought Coney Market about five or six years ago, said he plans to share the wealth with his 11 store employees. He also would like to use the money to install a full kitchen in the store so that he can expand on selling fresh meals.
He said he doesn’t know who bought the winning ticket, whether it was a local or someone just passing through.
Maryland Lottery has not released the identity of the winner, who has the right to remain anonymous. The new jackpot dropped to about $20 million after the win for the next drawing on Saturday. The winning numbers for Wednesday’s drawing were 40, 53, 60, 68, 69 and Powerball 22.
For the first time, both the Powerball and the Mega Millions jackpots had topped $700 million this week. No one had won either jackpot since mid-September.
The Mega Millions jackpot is now valued at nearly $1 billion for Friday’s drawing. The chance of winning the jackpot is 1 in 302.5 million.
Veronica Perri Ginyard, a mother of three in Fort Washington, Maryland, said she has been playing Mega Millions weekly since September. If she were to win the jackpot, she would buy an eight-bedroom, 14-bathroom mansion in Calabasas, California, for her family, travel and give a portion of her fortune to family and friends, she said.
“I believe once you get a big winning like that you definitely need to share and pass it along and help as many people as you can,” said Ms. Ginyard, who owns a holistic healing business called The Beauty Ambition.
Wednesday’s Powerball drawing was the 36th since the last win on Sept. 16 in New York, making this the longest jackpot roll in the lottery’s history.
The winner of the $731 million lottery ticket sold in Maryland matched all six numbers. Another player in Maryland won a $2 million prize for matching the first five numbers but not the Powerball.
Twelve players across the country won $1 million prizes for matching the first five numbers without the Powerball or the Power Play option. The winning tickets were sold in California, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey and Oregon.
In 2016, three players from California, Florida and Tennessee won a Powerball prize of $1.58 billion, the world record jackpot.
Winners can choose to receive the jackpot prize as a lump sum cash payment or paid out in 30 installments over 29 years. The cash prize for Mega Millions would be $716.3 million and $546.8 million for Wednesday’s Powerball. The new Powerball jackpot has a cash value of $15 million.
Prizes are subject to federal and state taxes. Both lotteries are played in 45 states, the District and U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball is also played in Puerto Rico.
The first Powerball drawing, which took place April 22, 1992, included 15 participating lotteries. Mega Millions started on Aug. 31, 1996, as the Big Game. Its first drawing was held on Sept. 6 and included six participating states.
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Corrected from earlier: An earlier version misspelled Ms. Ginyard’s middle name.
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