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Mostly Cloudy Powerball craze sweeps Long Island
Record jackpot leads to $90.3 million in education aid for New York schools
Over the past ten weeks, the Powerball jackpot has taken over the pop culture conversation. With each passing draw without a winner, the normally $400 million pot ballooned to 1.6 billion, the highest lottery jackpot of all time. As no surprise, people flocked to convenient stores and supermarkets in the off chance that they had the magic formula to hit the right five numbers in a row and then have the elusive sixth power ball. No one in New York walked away a jack pot winner, in fact no one person won the jackpot on Jan. 13, but three families in three different states, California, Tenessee, and Florida all had the right six numbers, in the right order.
The New York state lottery uses the profits it makes off ticket sales to help fund education in the state. In fiscal year 2014-15, the lottery generated $3.11 billion for education aid, which comprises 14% of the state education budget. This year, with the Powerball craze that swept the nation, the New York state Gaming Commission, which oversees the lottery, will contribute $90.63 million from the ten week Powerball run alone, said New York State Gaming Commission spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman.
“It had a record impact in a short burst,” said Hapeman. “It took a $1.6 billion jackpot to get people that excited. This is the first time any lottery, anywhere in the country has been anywhere near a jackpot this size.”
The final numbers that the lottery will contribute for education aid won’t be released until the end of the fiscal year on April 1. At that time, the New York State Gaming Commission will tally the total profits from the year and deposit that amount into its education account, Hapeman said.
Although no one in New York won the jackpot, there were 18 $50,000 winners and one $1 million winner. Rosedale stationary in Valley Stream boasted one of the $50,000 winners and owner Mike Patel, was happy that his store had a winning ticket. In the ten-week period, Patel said he sold 50,000 tickets, which is a record number.
“A lot of people came in and played,” said Patel. “People like big jackpots.”
