Who Won the $300 Million Powerball?

Looks like we're all going to have to go back to work today as the winning $337 million Powerball ticket was purchased in Lapeer, MI, about 45 miles south of Detroit.

When a reporter with seattlepi.com called the gas station about the ticket, the person who answered the phone was too busy, he said, to talk. The gas station will get a $50,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket there.

Going into Saturday's drawing, the Powerball lottery jackpot sat at $300 million, but when there wasn't a winning ticket that night, it rolled up to $320 million. By Wednesday night, just a couple of hours before the numbers were drawn, the jackpot shot to $337 million.

The winning numbers were 6, 27, 46, 51, 56, and the Powerball was 21.

While $337 million is a huge jackpot, it pales in comparison to the record-setting $656 million MegaMillions payout that went to three winning ticket-holders back in March.

Still, for only $2, the dream was all yours.

We asked readers on Brookfield Patch's Facebook page how they'd spend the money if their ship came in as the numbers are read Wednesday night, and answers varied from the impulsive to the profound.

"Hire a financial advisor PRONTO!" Sheila Buechel said.

Thinking locally and generously, Jan Beyerlein said. "Divvy it up into 4 parcels — Veterans hospital — Kidney Foundation — Cancer research — and the smallest portion to keep," she said.

Jayne Meyer said she would "set up medical/educational mission," and Damian Buchman said he would be thrilled to use the money for his dream project that is underway: "I would build The Ability Center — 4 times over!"

Technically, the take home wouldn't be $305 million, but even at about $100 million or so, most of us could scrape by.

So, what could $100 million buy?

• An octagonal penthouse in New York City
• 4-10 Bentleys
• About 5 tickets to fly into outer space

Of course, you could always save the money, donate it to charitable causes or what the most popular response is: quit your job.

In addition, for those with the time and the money to make this a sure bet, odds are one in 175,223,510, which is actually are lower that the jackpot. However, after Uncle Sam takes his cut, you'll end up worse off than when you started.

Regardless, dreaming is still free.