After 30 long years of trying Tom finally won the jackpot amount of $22m (Approximately R381,799,000) and immediately called his friend Joe to break the news that each of them won $11m. Tom honoured his part of the deal even after about 30 years when the deal was originally made. The two men both live in the Menomonie area of the US state of Wisconsin. The winning $2 ticket was bought by Tom at a shop in Menomonie for the draw on the 10th of June. The US Powerball numbers drawn were 10, 33, 41, 52, 54 and Powerball number 18. Tom and Joe both decided on taking the cash option of about $16,7m (approximately R289,820,150). After all the deductions were made and after all the federal and state taxes, they each took home an amount of about $5,7m (approximately R98,920,650). The Wisconsin lottery director Cindy Polzin said. “The power of friendship and a handshake has paid off, their lucky day has arrived.” Neither of them indicated any extravagant plans for the winnings. Joe was already retired when he heard about the news and Tom decided to retire after learning about the win. Both of them look forward to spending more time with their family. Tom said that they can peruse what they feel comfortable with now and that he can’t think of a better possible way to retire.
Friends win the lottery more often than you think
On 21 April 2020, two Canberra friends won $2,2 million (approximately R383,662,400) between them. These two friends have been buying lottery tickets together for 20 years. The winning ticket was bought at the Waramanga Newsagency. On 12 August 2020, two 18-year-old friends from Windsor won $100,000 (approximately R1,743,920) by playing instant tickets together. The winning ticket was bought on the birthday of one of the friends. In December 2000, two friends from Pretoria bought a winning ticket at a café in Knysna and won an amount of R95 329. They had only been friends for about a year and they both decided to share it equally among them.
Odds of winning the US Powerball
While the previous format gave you odds of a 1 in 175,223,510 shot at winning the top Powerball prize, your chances are now set at a significantly more difficult at 1 in 292,201,338. Winning the US Powerball is extremely difficult and you will need some serious luck even compared to other lotteries such as the South African Powerball where the odds of winning the jackpot are only 1 in 42,375,200. The table below shows the difficulty of winning the US Powerball jackpot compared to other lotteries.
| Lottery: | Odds of winning: |
| US Powerball | 1 in 292,201,338 |
| SA Powerball | 1 in 42,375,200 |
| SA Lotto | 1 in 20,358,520 |
This shows that winning the jackpot is no easy task and sharing the jackpot with a friend from a deal made about 30 years ago takes some real close friendship and goodwill.
