WINNER, S.D. (AP) – The town of Winner has produced a winner – and a $232 million one at that.

The winning ticket for Wednesday night’s $232 million Powerball jackpot was sold in this ranching and farming town of 2,800 people in the south-central part of the state.

“How often does something like this happen – a winner in Winner, S.D.?” Norm Lingle, executive director of the South Dakota Lottery, said at a news conference Thursday.

It’s the ninth-largest Powerball jackpot ever and the biggest ever paid out in South Dakota, he said.

The ticket-holder has 180 days to claim the prize, and the lottery said it has not received any calls on the jackpot. Residents were wondering who had won.

“I’m hoping it’s someone who’s deserving,” said Bobbie Voegeli, of Winner. “I’m hoping it’s someone local.”

Dick O’Bryan, a farmer and real estate agent who lives nearby, said “everybody was trying to figure out who it is” when he went to get coffee Thursday morning.

“It’s great to have it come into the town. It (might) just as well be here as somewhere else,” he said outside the Tripp County Courthouse. “The only bad part about it is my name isn’t on it.”

Out of the millions of tickets sold for Wednesday night’s drawing, only one matched all six winning numbers: five, six, twelve, 16 and 21. The Powerball was seven.

Powerball is played in 30 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Winner, about 200 miles southwest of Sioux Falls, near the Nebraska line, is known for its great pheasant hunting that draws thousands from around the world every fall.


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