Two winning tickets match Powerball numbers

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Two tickets, one in Missouri and the other in Pennsylvania, matched the numbers drawn in the Powerball lottery, splitting the estimated $261.3 million jackpot, lottery officials said.

The winning Missouri ticket was sold at a Fuel Mart in Hermann, a town of about 2,600 on the Missouri River, to Bill and Claudia Walkenbach of Hermann.

The Pennsylvania ticket was sold in Cranberry Township, lottery spokeswoman Cris Stambaugh said, though she didn't know which of the state's two Cranberry Townships it was.

The numbers in Wednesday night's drawing were 19-21-26-31-51 and the Powerball was 40.

The jackpot has surpassed $200 million four times since Powerball began in 1992. The largest jackpot was the Christmas 2002 prize of $314.9 million, won by a West Virginia contractor.

Weekend sales boost

Sales for this drawing had flagged over the long July Fourth weekend but picked up starting Monday.

"As people started going back to work this week, getting back into their normal routine, then across the Powerball states we saw sales going up," said Mary Neubauer, Iowa Lottery spokeswoman.

The latest winners can select half of a $147 million lump sum or opt for annual payments of more than $4.2 million over 30 years. Both figures are before taxes, Neubauer said.

Powerball, the nation's largest lottery game, is sold in 24 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

At a downtown Des Moines store, business analyst Kim Mingles grabbed 30 tickets for her office pool hours before the drawing.

The co-workers "decided we were buying new houses and paying bills," if they won, said Mingles, 40, of Bevington, Iowa.

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