Powerball Ticket Sold in Jay's Market with $280,000 Prize Didn't Stay in Baldwin Park

Manuel Moreno should be a big believer in fate because it definitely played a part in him winning a $280,630 prize in Wednesday night’s Powerball draw.

Moreno takes different routes home from work, depending on traffic. Sometimes he stays on the freeway, but if freeway traffic is too heavy, he gets off and takes surface streets home. Lucky for him, on Wednesday night’s traffic was heavy, so he got off the freeway and as he drove home, he passed Jay’s Market in Baldwin Park and decided he should stop in and get his POWERBALL tickets for the draw.

“It was because of the traffic – I’ve only been there about 10 times in my life,” he explained. As always he let the computer choose his numbers, which means if he had been there any earlier or later than he was, the computer might have chosen different numbers for him.
 
Late Wednesday night, he heard there was a and the next morning he checked the Lottery’s website to see the winner had purchased their ticket at Jay’s Market.

He checked the numbers and they matched – 9, 59, 31, 56, and 19, missing only the Powerball number of 2. Moreno went on to text his wife, “It’s not official, but I think we won just under $300K in the Lottery.” His wife’s reply: “Don’t play around.” Moreno went to the retailer and ran his ticket through the check-a-ticket and promptly came into the Lottery’s Santa Fe Springs District Office to claim his winnings.
 
Moreno plans to fix up his house and deposit money in his daughter’s college fund.
 
The other winning ticket, which remains unclaimed, was sold at the 7-Eleven located at 530 Morello Avenue in Martinez (Contra Costa County). Both tickets successfully matched all the numbers drawn, except the Powerball number.
 
Since no one matched all six numbers, Saturday night’s POWERBALL jackpot has rolled to $140 million. The estimated cash value for Saturday night’s draw is $91.3 million.
 
The California Lottery reminds winners to sign the back of their ticket, keep tickets in a safe place and contact Lottery officials or visit their local Lottery District Office as soon as possible. Winners have 180 days from the date of the draw to claim prizes.
 
POWERBALL is a multistate game, played in California and 44 other jurisdictions (42 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Players pick five numbers from 1 to 59 plus a Powerball number from 1 to 35. Draw times are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7:59 p.m. PST. 

All past and current Lottery draw results can be obtained for FREE by dialing 1-800-LOTTERY and selecting option 1, or via our website at www.calottery.com.

- California Lottery

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