MUNFORD, Tenn. (AP) — If they're wise, the three mystery winners of the world-record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot will talk seriously with experts in tax law, financial planning, privacy, security and other safeguards before they become known around the planet. 
 
 Balbir Atwal, the owner of a 7-Eleven store that sold a winning Powerball lottery ticket, holds up a Millionaire Made Here, sign at his store in Chino Hills, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. Atwal, says... (Associated Press) 
 
 Friends Kim Frodge, Jennifer Tweeddale and Haley Parks take a selfie outside a Publix Super Market in Melbourne Beach, Fla., where one of three winning tickets in the record Powerball jackpot was sold.... (Associated Press) 
 
 People stop at Naifeh's supermarket in Munford, Tenn., Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, where one of three winning tickets in the record Powerball jackpot was sold. The holder of the winning ticket will share... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rebecca Hargrove, center, president & CEO of the Tennessee Lottery, makes the announcement at Naifeh's supermarket in Munford, Tenn., Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, that the store sold one of three winning... (Associated Press) 
 
 Drivers pass a billboard where the word "billion" has replaced "million" to show the correct amount of the jackpot for Wednesday night's Powerball drawing on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Leo Lopez, right, picks his numbers on a lottery form as he waits in line to purchase Powerball lottery tickets at Lichine's Liquor store, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. The Powerball... (Associated Press) 
 
 Hundreds gather outside the 7-Eleven, after it was announced the winning Powerball ticket was sold at the store, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016 in Chino Hills, Calif. One winning ticket was sold at the store... (Associated Press) 
 
 Balbir Atwal owner of the California 7-11 that sold the winning Powerball ticket, smiles at his store in Chino Hills, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. Atwal, says he was at home when a friend called... (Associated Press) 
 
 TV news trucks line the parking lot at a Publix Super Market, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in Melbourne Beach, Fla., where one of three winning tickets in the record Powerball jackpot was sold. The holder... (Associated Press) 
 
 Nicole Madison holds her son, Jacob Madison, Jr, 1, as she and her husband, Jacob Madison, right, pick their Powerball numbers while waiting in line at Lichine's Liquor store, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016,... (Associated Press) 
 
 The lucky trio did not immediately identify themselves, but they bought their tickets in the small working class town of Munford, Tennessee; in the quiet Los Angeles suburb of Chino Hills; and at a supermarket in affluent Melbourne Beach, on Florida's Space Coast. 
 
 They overcame odds of 1 in 292.2 million to land on all the numbers: 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10. They can let their winnings be invested and thereby collect 30 annual payments totaling an estimated $533 million, or take their third of $983.5 million in cash all at once. 
 
 Getting such a windfall is the start of a "new journey" and the winners should be prepared with lawyers, accountants and financial planners before they come forward, California Lottery spokesman Russ Lopez said. 
 
 Too many lottery winners unaccustomed to sudden wealth have gone bankrupt, been victimized or experienced other losses because they were unprepared for an onslaught of unwanted attention, said Andrew Stoltmann, an Illinois attorney who has represented winners. He compared it to "throwing meat into a shark-infested ocean." 
 
 But they shouldn't wait too long: California gives its top winners up to a year to contact lottery officials before the money automatically goes to schools. Winners in Tennessee and Florida must claim their winnings within 180 days of Wednesday night's drawing. 
 
 State and local taxes can eat up nearly half the winnings for many lottery players around the country, but these three could be even more lucky if they live in Florida or Tennessee, which have no state income tax, or California, which exempts winnings from lottery tickets bought in-state. They would still owe federal taxes, topping out at 39.6 percent. 
 
 The huge draw also produced eight $2 million Power Play winners and 73 $1 million winners nationwide who matched all five white balls but missed the red Powerball, said Sally Lunsford of the Kansas Lottery. 
 
 The California ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven; the Florida ticket at a Publix supermarket and the Tennessee ticket at a family-owned grocery store, where the owner, Dana Naifeh, received a $25,000 check. 
 
 "I need to digest this," said Naifeh, who plans to share some of her modest bounty with store employees. 
 
 Florida's store collects $100,000, and California's $1 million bonus will be shared between the Chino Hills store owner and the 7-Eleven company. 
 
 California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said officials there heard plenty of stories about possible jackpot winners, but no one had come forward to cash in the ticket as of late Thursday afternoon. 
 
 Munford auto body shop worker Jerry Caudle said he was "freaking out" when he heard a winning ticket was sold in his town, but then saw that he matched only two numbers and the Powerball, for a prize of $14. He wore a wistful smile as he left the Short Stop gas station and convenience store, where Tipton County's "best chicken on a stick" costs $3.69. 
 
 "It's been tough," Caudle said. "The hardest winter for me here in 17 years." 
 
 The California store and its surrounding strip mall suddenly became a popular gathering spot in the rural suburb of 78,000, where cows still graze on hillsides. Hundreds of people crowded into the 7-Eleven store, chanting "Chino Hills! Chino Hills!" 
 
 Store owner Balbir Atwal worked as an electronics salesman after immigrating from India in 1981, and bought his first 7-Eleven franchise at the age of 27. Now he owns four. He said he has sold winning tickets before, but never like this one. 
 
 "I was just joking, I said, this is the time someone's going to hit it," laughed Atwal. He said he would share his part of the store's bonus with employees and family, and give some to charity. 
 
 Michael Fahim, 48, real estate broker from Chino Hills, said he bought 20 lottery tickets Wednesday night just up the street. "I'm happy it's in Chino Hills. I think it put us on the map — all over the world," he said, adding that his brother called from Australia overnight to learn if he won. 
 
 Melbourne Beach's 3,100 residents live on a spit of beachfront no bigger than one-square mile. Unlike parts of the Space Coast dominated by high rises, the affluent town has large single-family homes on its beaches. Nobody emerged to claim their winnings, but excitement was palpable outside the Publix where the ticket was sold. 
 
 "The winner could be as close as your neighbors!" said Lisa Londini, a professional caregiver shopping at the market. "I wish it was me!" 
 
 Ticket sales and payouts had risen steadily as weeks came and went without a winner since Nov. 4, when the jackpot amount was reset at $40 million. In addition to three jackpot winners, more than 26 million other winning tickets will pay out total cash prizes of $273,869,373, Lunsford said. 
 
 For Wednesday night's drawing alone, Powerball sales totaled $1,270,206,274. People were buying 37,000 Powerball tickets a minute in California, where $386 million in Powerball tickets were sold since Nov. 4, the most of any state and more than California sold in the entire previous fiscal year, spokesman Russ Lopez said. 
 
 "You get a lot of new players with a large jackpot," California Lottery Director Hugo Lopez said. "Our goal is to have a lot of people play a little bit." 
 
 A big chunk of the profits go to schools, although not enough to solve all their budget problems, officials said. 
 
 Sales for this jackpot generated nearly $115 million since November for education in Florida, which uses the lottery to provide 6 percent of the education budget, Florida Lottery Secretary Tom Delacenserie said. California's share represents $154 million for its schools, Russ Lopez said — not enough "to get schools out of trouble." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Contributors include David Pitt and Scott McFetridge in Iowa City, Iowa. Taxin reported from Chino Hills and Schneider from Melbourne Beach. 

 Mark Boster / Getty Images ID: 7772766 
 
 A California nurse with seven children was apparently pranked by her son into thinking she won Wednesday’s record Powerball jackpot — a feel-good story that spread rapidly online Thursday but had lottery officials skeptical. 
 
 The 62-year-old nurse was even identified by her employer, Park Avenue Health & Wellness Center in Pomona, California, who also may have fallen for the prank. 
 
 Shlomo Rechnitz, right, purchased Powerball tickets for all of his 15,000 employees for Wednesday night’s historic drawing. David Livingston / Getty Images ID: 7772707 
 
 The story spread quickly in local news broadcasts and social media, but it began to quickly unravel after details surrounding the ticket emerged. 
 
 
 
 One of the woman’s daughters told the New York Daily News that the ticket, and the picture, had in fact been part of a prank from one of her siblings. 
 
 
 
 California Lottery officials told BuzzFeed News they were skeptical about the win for a couple of reasons, including the fact that no one had come forward to claim the prize. 
 
 
 
 “No one from that group has come forward,” Alex Traverso, assistant deputy director of the California Lottery, told BuzzFeed News. 
 
 He said a picture of the supposed winning ticket also appeared to have been purchased at the wrong retailer. 
 
 “We checked out the ticket, and the retailers don’t check out,” he said. 
 
 Meet the Calif. nurse who won the big $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot and didn't quit her job https://t.co/EIho5hj0ZC — New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) ID: 7772724 
 
 A spokesperson for Shlomo Rechnitz, who owns the health facility where the nurse is employed, told BuzzFeed News that he had bought Powerball tickets for each of his 15,000 employees in 80 health care facilities. 
 
 “I asked him what spurred him to commit this act of generosity,” Josh Nass, a spokesman for Rechnitz said. “He said people are looking for hope, and he was hoping to bring hope into his employees.” 
 
 Nass declined to identity the woman, but said she was a mother of seven. 
 
 
 
 She and her colleagues began to celebrate at the nursing home Wednesday night after the numbers were announced, Nass said, believing she was a big winner. 
 
 He told BuzzFeed News he and her employer had been unable to contact the woman after news spread she might have been the victim of a prank. 
 
 “If it is indeed the case that someone pulled a prank on her, that’s reprehensible,” Nass said. 
 
 At this point, Nass said it was unclear what happened. 
 
 “She’s a wonderful lady, and an incredible employee,” Nass said. “She stayed to finish her shift.” 
 
 
 
 The real winning ticket was purchased at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, California. A picture of the woman’s ticket, however, showed it came from a different store, Traverso said. 
 
 Two other jackpot winning tickets were purchased in Florida and Tennessee. None of the winners have been identified. 
 
 Traverso said it is also rare for winners to make any sort of public announcement before claiming the winnings with the California Lottery. 
 
 “They usually play it really close to the vest,” he told BuzzFeed News. “They don’t want people to know they’re big winners. My assumption is that it’s not a legitimate ticket.” 
 
 
 
 

 Revelers celebrate at 7-Eleven where $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot winning ticket sold https://t.co/lGimxMqT72 https://t.co/KJOXwJAU5O — ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) January 14, 2016 
 
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 A Pomona nurse identified by her employer as the winner of the record-breaking Powerball jackpot did not, in fact, win, her family told ABC News.The family of the 62-year-old woman said the nurse's son played a prank on his mother.California Lottery officials said they were skeptical after a spokesperson for nursing home owner Shlomo Rechnitz said the winner was a senior registered nurse at Park Avenue Health Care and Wellness Center in Pomona.Rechnitz's spokesperson said the nurse was given a ticket by her boss, who bought 18,000 tickets for his employees and residents at 80 nursing home across California.Rechnitz described the prank as "despicable" and told ABC News he wants the nurse to have some fun with the situation. He said he will buy an all-expense paid vacation for the nurse and her family to anywhere they choose.Lottery officials stated that no one has come forward to claim the prize.The winning ticket was purchased at a 7-Eleven located at 4092 Chino Hills Parkway in Chino Hills . Revelers swarmed the store in celebration Wednesday evening.The final total for the jackpot was $1,586,400,000 with a cash value of $983,500,000, according to the Texas Lottery.Two other winning tickets were sold in Florida and Tennessee.Powerball is played in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The odds of winning are one in 292.2 million. 

 A celebration broke out at a California nursing home after a worker was told she was one of the Powerball winners — but it turned out to be a prank, relatives said Thursday. 
 
 The heartwarming story unraveled hours after a manager at the Park Avenue Health & Wellness Center in Pomona told reporters the staffer was a newly-minted millionaire. 
 
 David Levy, the nursing home’s administrator, said the facility was abuzz Wednesday night after the woman received a call from her son saying she was the winner. 
 
 Workers at Park Avenue Healthcare and Wellness in Pomona, Calif. celebrate after learning that a co-worker won the Powerball jackpot Wednesday. But it turned out to be a prank. (Nancy Dillon / NY Daily News/Nancy Dillon / NY Daily News) 
 
 CURSE OF THE LOTTERY: TRAGIC STORIES OF BIG JACKPOT WINNERS 
 
 The nurse’s son went so far as to send her a picture of what he said was the winning ticket, Levy said. 
 
 "It's a joke. It's a prank...by my brother," the 56-year-old nurse's daughter Jennifer told the Daily News from her house in Pomona on Thursday evening. 
 
 "It's embarrassing. This is too much for us," she said, visibly upset by all the fuss. 
 
 David Levy, manager of Park Avenue Healthcare and Wellness in Pomona, Calif.. Levy says the Powerball jackpot winner was at work Wednesday night when she found out. But it turned out to be a hoax. (Nancy Dillon / NY Daily News/Nancy Dillon / NY Daily News) Park Avenue Healthcare and Wellness in Pomona, Calif. An employee was told by her son that she won the Powerball, but it turned out to be prank. (Nancy Dillon / NY Daily News/Nancy Dillon / NY Daily News) David Levy, manager of Park Avenue Healthcare and Wellness in Pomona, Calif., says nurse was at work Wednesday night when she found out the good news. But it turned out to be a hoax. 
 
 The woman went home thinking she was a member of the 1 percent — only to find out her son was merely joking around, the daughter said. 
 
 The bizarre turn of events came a day after lottery officials revealed that three people won the epic $1.6 billion jackpot — in California, Tennessee and Florida. 
 
 The company bought lottery tickets for its employees, but it's unclear if the nurse's ticket was one of them. (Nancy Dillon / NY Daily News/Nancy Dillon / NY Daily News) 
 
 None of the winners have claimed their tickets, lottery officials said. 
 
 GOOD LUCKY CHARM GIFT SHOP IN QUEENS SELLS ONE OF THE $1M POWERBALL TICKETS 
 
 Before the nurse’s story was knocked down, California lottery spokesman Russ Lopez said he was rooting for the nurse to be a winner. 
 
 "I certainly hope it's her. That would be a great story," said California Lottery spokesman Russ Lopez. 
 
 “But Twitter is going crazy with fake tickets, and people have to take claims with some skepticism until we verify the winner.”
– A nurse in California thought she had won the world's biggest lottery jackpot, but soon discovered she had a son with the world's worst sense of humor. News that the 62-year-old mother of seven, who works at a health center in Pomona, had won the Powerball lottery spread across the country before it emerged that it was a prank by her son, who had called to tell her she had won, BuzzFeed reports. "It's a joke. It's a prank ... by my brother," one of the nurse's daughters tells the New York Daily News. "It's embarrassing. This is too much for us." She says her mother didn't discover the prank until she came home from work, where she had celebrated with colleagues. She hasn't been identified. The "win" had been publicized by a spokesperson for nursing home owner Shlomo Rechnitz, who bought 18,000 Powerball tickets for employees and residents at the 80 nursing homes he owns, reports ABC7. Rechnitz tells the station that the prank is "despicable" and he will pay for an all-expenses vacation anywhere the nurse and her family would like to go. A Rechnitz spokesperson tells BuzzFeed that the nurse is a "wonderful lady and an incredible employee" who stayed to finish her shift even when she thought she had won $1.6 billion. The real winning tickets were sold in California, Tennessee, and Florida, but the winners have not come forward yet, AP reports. (For 20 minutes last weekend, workers at this restaurant thought they'd won the jackpot.)