Is New Jersey the Luckiest State to Buy Lottery Tickets in? [AUDIO]
Talk about luck. It turns out two out of the three winning tickets in this week's $448 million Powerball jackpot were sold in the Garden State.
Each ticket is worth more than $86 million in cash before taxes.
"If you look at our record since January, I think this is the sixth time that we've scored a top multi-state prize - we certainly have been Jersey lucky," says New Jersey Lottery Executive Director Carole Hedinger.
"After all the bad luck of a year ago, I think we can say our luck has turned - not only are we Jersey strong, we're Jersey lucky."
So does this mean all Jersey residents should rush out and buy lottery tickets?
"I think it's a good time for everybody to come to New Jersey to buy a lottery ticket," says Hedinger. "If you ask me, this is the place where you're going to have your best chance."
With so many Jersey residents winning millions on many different games, Hedinger says so far this year "our sales are running ahead of last year - July's sales were over six percent ahead of last year's sales."
She also says while a few Jersey residents have won huge lottery prizes this year, we've had a lot of smaller prizes that don't get much attention, between $1 million and $40 million dollars.