Family Members Share $5.6 Million Cash Powerball(R) Jackpot Prize
Second Powerball(R) Jackpot Won in Pennsylvania in December 2004

MIDDLETOWN, Pa., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Lottery today announces that four members of the Joseph Petto family - Joe, 61, and his wife, Mercedes, 64, of Philadelphia; Mike Tartini, 41, of Roseland, New Jersey; and Keith Wesley, 40, of Trevose, Bucks County - are Pennsylvania's winners of the December 22, 2004 Powerball® jackpot worth a $10.3 million annuity or $5.6 million cash, less 25 percent federal withholding. The family has selected the cash option value - $5,662,888.20, less 25 percent federal withholding - and will divide the jackpot among the four family members.

Petto's jackpot-winning ticket matched all five white balls, 02-07-11-24- 31, and the red Powerball®, 18, in the December 22, 2004 drawing. The family shares the jackpot with two other winning tickets, one sold in Arizona and one sold in Nebraska. The December 22 jackpot had a total annuity value of $30.9 million and a cash value of $16.9 million.

Tartini says they told family and friends they had won the Powerball® jackpot at their annual holiday party.

"We purchased $60 to $80 worth of lottery tickets and handed them out to our party guests," said Tartini. "We told them to enjoy playing them and that they could easily be winners because we just won the Powerball® jackpot in Pennsylvania."

The Petto family presented the winning ticket at Lottery Headquarters in Middletown, Dauphin County earlier today, after consulting with legal counsel. After examining the ticket and executing other propriety security measures, Lottery officials confirmed that it was the winning ticket.

Petto, who selected his own number combinations, purchased the ticket at the Beer Express, 11718 Bustleton Ave., Philadelphia. Beer Express, owned and managed by Robert Parmar, will receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning jackpot ticket.

The Petto family is the seventh Pennsylvania Lottery Powerball® winner since Pennsylvania joined the game in June 2002. The ticket was the fourth jackpot-winning Powerball® ticket sold in Pennsylvania in 2004. Winning Powerball® jackpot tickets also were sold in Pennsylvania for the May 8, May 29 and December 8 drawings. The December 8, 2004 Powerball® jackpot ticket worth $171.4 million, the second-largest prize in Pennsylvania Lottery history, was sold at Castle Food Mart in New Castle, Lawrence County. At this time, no claim has been filed for that jackpot.

About the Pennsylvania Lottery: The Pennsylvania Lottery remains the only state Lottery that designates all its proceeds to programs that benefit older residents. Since its inception more than 32 years ago, the Lottery has contributed more than $14.6 billion to programs that include property tax and rent rebates; free and reduced-fare transit; the low-cost prescription drug programs PACE and PACENET; and the 52 Area Agencies on Aging, including 650 full- and part-time senior centers throughout Pennsylvania.