By Elizabeth Chuck and Vignesh Ramachandran, NBC News
The record $580 million Powerball jackpot will be split by the owners of tickets sold in Missouri and Arizona, according to lottery officials. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
Updated at 7:50 p.m. ET:?The search for the two big winners of Wednesday night?s Powerball drawing is narrowing.
Missouri lottery officials announced Thursday that one of the Powerball tickets worth $293.7 million was sold at a Trex Mart in Dearborn, Mo. And Arizona officials said the other winning ticket in the $587.5 million jackpot was sold at the 4 Sons Food Store in Fountain Hills, Ariz.
The Missouri winner will be announced at a press conference Friday, while officials have still not identified the Arizona winner.
The Arizona store that sold the ticket will receive a $25,000 bonus incentive, while the Missouri store will get $50,000.
Lottery officials have not said whether the winning numbers of Wednesday night's record drawing --?05 - 16 - 22 - 23 - 29 and Powerball 06 -- were picked by individuals or groups.
"It is so exciting to sell one of these Powerball tickets," Missouri Lottery executive director?May Scheve Reardon said in a press release Thursday. ?"In addition, we sold two tickets that matched all five white balls, which means they each win $1 million. Three millionaires in one night is a wonderful night!"
Reardon advised all winners to be sure to sign the back of their tickets and seek legal and financial advice. Missouri winners have 180 days to claim their prize.
NBC's Kerry Sanders has more on the record jackpot and looks at how the winner may have chosen their numbers.
In addition to the jackpot winners, Powerball officials said eight people won $2 million prizes and 58 other ticket holders won $1 million.
The jackpot had rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner since Oct. 6, prompting?Americans to go on a ticket-buying spree in the run-up to the drawing. At one point, tickets were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide ? about six times the volume from a week ago.
The Missouri and Arizona jackpot winners will share an estimated $385 million before taxes if they take the prize as a lump sum, or the $587.5 million can be paid out as annuities over three decades, the Multi-State Lottery Association told Reuters.
As lottery official Sue Dooley notes, tickets matching all five of the white balls in the record $580 million Powerball drawing, can be cashed in for $1 million in prize money.
Although this Powerball jackpot was a big one, it's not the largest lottery prize ever. That mark is held by the $656 million Mega Millions jackpot that was split by three ticket buyers earlier this year. The previous biggest Powerball prize was $365 million in 2006, shared by several ConAgra Foods workers in Lincoln, Neb.
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Powerball is played across 42 states, plus Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands.?All but five states -- Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota and Ohio -- require the lottery to release the winning names to anyone who asks, according to the Powerball site.
The next Powerball drawing has been reset back to $40 million.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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