Powerball jackpot grows again to $625 million
TRENTON — No one won the jackpot from Wednesday night's Powerball drawing, sending its jackpot soaring over $600 million.
The numbers drawn on Wednesday were: white balls 10, 14, 50, 53, 63, plus Powerball 21, and Power Play multiplier 2X. One ticket played in New Jersey matched all five white balls, and is a $1 million winner.
The annuity value of the jackpot for the next drawing on Saturday night will be $625 million, the seventh-largest Powerball jackpot ever. It has a cash value of $380.6 million. The game has gone 24 drawings in a row without a jackpot winner.
If you do win the jackpot, what should you do? Lou Scatigna of AFM Investments in Toms River advised to lie low and keep your good fortune quiet.
"I would stay under wraps for a week or two before claiming the prize," Scatigna, author of the book "Financial Physician," also the name of his Sunday morning program on Townsquare Media's Beach Radio, said. He suggested assembling a team that includes an attorney, accountant, and a certified financial planner.
"When someone wins that kind of money once, they're known to the public, all kinds of stuff starts happening to you. People want money: charities, lost family members. You have to be trained to deal with the publicity and how your life is going to change in ways you don't anticipate," Scatigna said.
Scatigna suggested the winner sign the winning ticket, take a picture of the front and back, put it in a safety deposit box or some place safe, tell as few people as possible about the win, and get the ticket verified.