Two Powerball winners who will split a record $587.5 million jackpot are taking their time to come forward.
Poweball officials said Thursday that winning tickets for the jackpot were sold in Arizona and Missouri, with both tickets hitting all six numbers correctly. As USA Today reported , Missouri lottery officials know that the winning ticket was sold at a Trex Mart convenience store in Dearborn, which is roughly halfway between Kansas City and St. Joseph.
The Powerball winners aren’t being rushed into coming forward, lottery officials said.
“We don’t want them to feel rushed,” said May Scheve Reardon, executive director of the Missouri Lottery. May suggested that the winner contact legal and financial advisers first — and put the winning Powerball ticket somewhere safe until they come forward.
Two other people in Missouri will share in some Powerball success. There were two other winning tickets sold there that matched five numbers, good for $1 million each.
On Wednesday, Powerball officials had noted that the Powerball jackpot was $550 million, but that continued to climb as tickets sold at a record rate. The two yet-unnamed winners hit the right series of winning numbers: 05, 16, 22, 23, 29, and a Powerball of 6.
Powerball tickets were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide, six times higher than the still large volume from last week, The Associated Press reported . By the end of the week, the jackpot had reached the second-largest total in the nation’s history, behind only a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot from last year that was shared by three people.