The $590 million Powerball Jackpot – And its Unlucky “Winner”

The largest Powerball jackpot in the history of the game was won on Saturday 18th May 2013 by one incredibly lucky winner from the small town of Zephyrhills, Florida. That winner has yet to make themselves known to lottery officials, but whilst the hunt goes on, spare a thought for poor Margit Arrobio, who matched all six numbers for the Wednesday draw – but walked away with nothing.

Margit Arrobio purchased five Powerball tickets for the draw on Wednesday 15th May 2013 (which had a jackpot of a staggering $360 million) from a petrol station on Wednesday evening. The next day, Arrobio from Pasadena, California (pictured below), noticed to her delight that she had matched all six numbers. However, upon hearing that there were no jackpot winners for that draw she contacted the petrol station where she bought her ticket only to be told she had missed the cut off for the Wednesday draw, and her ticket was in fact for the following draw taking place on Saturday.

According to the Daily Mail, Arrobio was “shocked and then disappointed” about her bad luck. We imagine that is the printable response, anyway.

In the meantime, all eyes are on Zephyrhills, Florida to see just who the recipient of the single biggest Powerball jackpot will be. According to Florida law the winner has 60 days from the day of the draw to claim their prize and due to lottery transparency laws it is mandatory that the winning player goes public. The weekend jackpot was the second biggest jackpot in the world after the $656 million MegaMillions prize, which was shared between three winning ticket holders in March 2012, and the single biggest win ever seen on the Powerball.

We, along with the rest of the world, will be watching the tiny town with bated breath to see who of the 13,000 residents is holding that winning ticket.