Steve and Kristine White Take Home Largest Jackpot Prize in PA Lottery History

HARRISBURG: Secretary of Revenue Gregory C. Fajt and Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Lottery Edward Mahlman today presented a check for $110,230,721 cash – less 25 percent federal withholding – to Steven and Kristine White of Skillman, New Jersey, holders of the single winning ticket – sold in Pennsylvania – for the May 8, 2004, Powerball® drawing. The jackpot had an annuity value of $213.2 million, the largest prize in the Pennsylvania Lottery’s 32-year history.

“I’m delighted to present this check to Steve and Kristine, and I congratulate them,” Secretary Fajt said. “By playing Powerball®, the Whites also have made this a great day for the hundreds of thousands of older Pennsylvanians who benefit from Lottery-funded programs. They, too, are winners today.

Steve, 40, a vice president of sales and marketing, and Kristine, 39, a nurse, did not check their winning Powerball® ticket until the Monday night following the May 8 drawing. “We went to Cumberland Farms earlier that evening to check the winning numbers from Saturday night’s drawing,” says Steve. “The store manager told us the winning ticket had been sold the previous Wednesday night, which was when I bought our tickets.” The Whites had purchased a $5 quick-pick Powerball® ticket for the previous Wednesday night’s drawing and the same for Saturday’s drawing.

“The ticket was at home, on the refrigerator; before that, it had been riding around on the sun visor in Kristine’s vehicle. Once we realized we had all of the winning numbers, after checking the ticket about 200 times, we checked the Pennsylvania Lottery’s web site and saw that it advised the holder of the ticket to sign the back and put it in a safe place. We immediately signed it and placed it in a safe deposit box,” Steve admits. “Then we sought financial guidance.”

The Whites presented the winning ticket at Lottery Headquarters in Middletown this morning, after consulting with legal counsel. After examination of the ticket and executing other propriety security measures, Lottery officials confirmed that it was the winning ticket.

Steve purchased the quick-pick ticket at about 7 p.m. on May 5 at the Cumberland Farms store on Route 532 in Washington Crossing, Bucks County, northeast of Philadelphia. Cumberland Farms will receive a $400,000 bonus for selling the winning jackpot ticket. Cumberland Farms plans to donate $40,000 to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), $40,000 to Making Strides walks for breast cancer research and will present a bonus to Store Manager Randy Boldizar and store employees for selling the winning Powerball® jackpot ticket.

The Whites had the sole winning ticket matching all five white balls, 03-09-17-37-43, and the red Powerball, 39, in the May 8, 2004, drawing. Three match-five tickets also were sold in Pennsylvania, two for a $100,000 prize each and one for a $400,000 Power Play prize.

Steve and Kristine White and their two children are Pennsylvania’s fourth Powerball® jackpot winners since joining the multi-jurisdictional game and the only winner who will receive the entire jackpot – all three previous Pennsylvania winners shared their top prizes with one other ticket from a participating state.