Losing lottery players are questioning California’s claim to the four largest Powerball jackpots ever, suggesting it was ‘rigged’ despite the odds of winning being 1 in 290 million.
A social media user posted a list showing the ten biggest Powerball jackpots, indicating that California won the top four, and wrote: ‘Does CA have some kind of rigged advantage in POWERBALL?’ on X, formerly Twitter.
Along with the list, user @atensnut also posted a reply from ChatGPT, supporting their suggestion.
‘You are quite right; statistically it does seem unlikely. Ensuring fairness and transparency in lottery systems is essential to maintaining trust,’ the chatbot said.
California did win five of the 10 largest Powerball jackpots, including the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. history announced Wednesday, sold at Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, about an hour from Los Angeles.
This comes after another lucky Californian, Edwin Castro, broke records by raising $2.04 billion last November.
Losing lottery players question California’s claim to four largest Powerball jackpots ever, suggesting it’s ‘rigged’
Along with the list, user @atensnut also posted a reply from ChatGPT, supporting their suggestion
The single ticket was sold at Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, in a small California community of just 2,500 people
Many losing lottery players seem to believe that Powerball is rigged
Many social media users chimed in under the post by @atensnut, a former business owner
Some accuse Powerball of being corrupt, just as the state’s government is perceived to be
Many losing lottery players seem to believe Powerball is fraudulent, with many agreeing under the post by @atensnut, a former business owner and nurse from Arkansas, according to her X profile.
Many accuse Powerball of being corrupt, just as the state’s government is perceived to be.
“Everything that touches California has a hand of corruption attached to it,” wrote one.
“These people defrauded the entire state every program every office every single thing this crooked government pays for in this state.”
Another said: ‘You do see that the winners are all from Democratic states and the largest Democratic state is California.
“Obviously it was fixed the same way the election was fixed,” the angry user wrote. The answer garnered nearly 300 likes and dozens of reposts.
‘Who benefits from the tax being taken out? Upwards of which 50%? Yeah, I’d say it’s rigged,’ another replied.
Powerballs terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million is designed to generate huge jackpots, with prizes getting bigger and bigger as they repeatedly roll over when no one wins.
Victories in recent months have apparently been few and far between.
On Wednesday, just 44 percent of the advertised $1.73 billion jackpot will be available as a lump sum. This is the lowest it has been since as far back as 2003
The winning numbers were: 22, 24, 40, 52, 64 and the Powerball 10
Duke, the liquor store worker who reportedly sold the winning ticket, speculated that the winner was a local person since the store is located in a small town. He joked that the winner ‘owes me a new truck’
Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park celebrated the sale of the $1.73 billion ticket as a tense 12 weeks of switchovers came to an end Wednesday night.
Although the winner has yet to emerge, store owners May and Jacklin Khalil also scored a big payday as they stand to receive at least $1 million just for selling the ticket.
Duke, the staff member who sold the winning ticket, added CBS Los Angeles: ‘The phone rang… someone owes me a new truck.’
The employee said he was sure the winner was a local resident of the small town of 2,500, as people “religiously” come to the store every week to get their tickets for upcoming drawings.
The liquor store is about 100 miles north of downtown Los Angeles and is located in the Los Padres National Forest.
Since it’s away from Interstate-5, Duke said he believes it’s won by a local in the small community where the median household income in 2020 is $42,200.
Store owners May and Jacklin Khalil celebrated and said they were ‘so happy’ after learning they would receive $1 million just for selling the winning numbers
Jonathan Khalil, left, and Chris Khalil, sons of the store’s co-owners, hold up a ceremonial check presented to them by lottery officials
“I’m pretty sure it’s a local,” he said. ‘There are people coming in every day to get their tickets. We know them by name, so I’m sure someone will be shouting up and down.’
He added that great excitement built up among local residents after news spread, and the “phone was ringing off the hook, people saying congratulations.”
“A lot of customers come in every day to get their tickets religiously, and a lot of them said, ‘If I win, I’m going to get you a new truck… so where’s my truck?’ he joked.
Owners May and Jacklin Khalil were stunned to learn that they had sold the numbers, with the mystery winner not the only one in luck as the duo will take home at least $1 million.