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Powerball Jackpot Winners Include 16 N.J. County Workers

Paul White of Ham Lake, Minn., and his partner Kim VanReese. White bought one of the three winning tickets in Wednesday's $448.4 million Powerball lottery. While one-third of the jackpot is about $149.4 million, he's chosen to take his share in a lump sum rather than spread out over many years. That lump sum is $86 million, which after taxes will be about $58 million.
Eric Miller
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Reuters /Landov
Paul White of Ham Lake, Minn., and his partner Kim VanReese. White bought one of the three winning tickets in Wednesday's $448.4 million Powerball lottery. While one-third of the jackpot is about $149.4 million, he's chosen to take his share in a lump sum rather than spread out over many years. That lump sum is $86 million, which after taxes will be about $58 million.

One of the three tickets that ended up being winners of Wednesday's $448.4 million Powerball jackpot belongs to a group of 16 workers at the Ocean County Vehicle Maintenance Department in New Jersey, according to local news outlets. Their names haven't yet been released.

No one's yet come forward with the other winning ticket that happened to be sold in New Jersey.

But the owner of the third ticket, sold in Minnesota, has gone public. "I've been waiting for this day my entire life," 45-year-old project engineer Paul White of Ham Lake, Minn., said with a laugh on Thursday, according to Minneapolis' Star Tribune.

White, who spent $10 to buy five Powerball tickets, has decided how he wants to receive his share. He "opted for the immediate cash payout of $86 million," the Star Tribune says. "After taxes, his total will come to about $58.3 million."

White has some ideas about what he will do with the windfall, the newspaper writes:

"He plans to use his millions to fund his kids' college tuition and a few good causes — plus a couple of cars. He's been eyeing a 1990s Acura NSX on Craigslist for $30,000. Then there's a 1963 Chevrolet Impala, the first car his father ever bought. His dad, now 80, still has a framed photo of it. 'I'm going to find that car,' White said — and give it to his dad."

As for the big group in New Jersey, let's hope they don't run into some of the problems that other such workplace pools have in the past:

-- Chipping In To Your Office Lottery Pool? Read This First

-- 'I'm Not Upset' Says Guy Who Didn't Kick In For $319M Lottery Ticket

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.