A Freeport supermarket is one of two New York stores that sold a third-prize Power Play ticket worth $100,000 in Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing, New York Lottery officials announced Thursday.
The winning ticket was purchased at Gala Foods Supermarket, located at 111 W. Merrick Road.
No one matched all six numbers in Wednesday’s drawing, causing the jackpot to balloon to a whopping $1.7 billion for Saturday 10:59 p.m. drawing.
The $100,000 prize represents the third-prize level with the Power Play multiplier option, which increases non-jackpot winnings. Without Power Play, third-prize tickets are worth $50,000.
Long Island’s recent Powerball prowess
The Freeport winner continues a recent streak of Powerball luck on Long Island. In Monday’s drawing, Village Grocery at 328 Main St. in Port Jefferson sold the state’s only second-prize winning ticket — it carries a prize of $1 million.
“She said, ‘Look, that’s you,'” recalled grocery store co-owner Qaiser Mirza when a customer showed him news of the win on her phone. Mirza and his brother have operated the Port Jefferson store for nearly three decades.
Monday’s drawing also produced a $50,000 third-prize winner sold at the 7-Eleven located at 655 Route 25A in Kings Park.
Long Island establishments have been particularly fortunate in recent drawings. Saturday’s drawing yielded four second-prize tickets worth $50,000 each at locations in Copiague, Hauppauge, Syosset and Wantagh.
In total, five Long Island locations have sold third-prize winning Powerball tickets worth $50,000 in the previous two drawings, not including Wednesday’s $100,000 Power Play winner in Freeport.
Growing Jackpot
The Powerball jackpot has been building since the last grand prize winner in July. Drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m.
Saturday’s estimated $1.7 billion jackpot would rank among the largest in U.S. lottery history if won. The cash option is estimated to be about $756.6 million.
To win the jackpot, players must match all five white balls plus the red Powerball. The odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in 292.2 million.
Top photo: GLI file photo (Brian Harmon).
