9 Powerball tickets in California come oh-so-close to jackpot

For nine Powerball ticket-holders, the $448-million jackpot was excruciatingly close Wednesday night -- as in, within one number.

The tickets matched the first five numbers, but not the magic Powerball number, depriving the owners of the third-largest ever jackpot. But they can at least take solace in a consolation prize: each ticket is worth $289,341.

The winning numbers were 5, 25, 30, 58, 59 and the Powerball was 32.

Just two tickets in New Jersey and one in Minnesota landed the lucky combination.

More than 13 million Powerball tickets were sold in California for big draw, more than half of which were sold on Wednesday alone, according to California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso.

The late rush boosted the original Powerball estimate from $425 million to $448 million.

But when the six numbers were chosen at 7:59 p.m, a majority of those who played won nothing. Nearly 350,000 “winners,� though, did come away with a meager $4.

Since California began selling tickets to the game in early April, no one in the state has won the jackpot.
For Saturday’s draw, the jackpot starts again at $40 million.

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