York, Pa., couple wins $30 million

Pennsylvania must have some hot karma.

The Phillies win the World Series. Pennsylvania has been the most embattled piece of turf in the presidential election. And yesterday, for the third time in a few months, Pennsylvanians stepped up to claim a Powerball jackpot.

This time the lucky winners were Myrna and Thomas Shearer of York, Pa.

They took the cash payout of $30.2 million, which will be worth about $20 million after taxes.

The annuity value was $58.6 million.

They had the only ticket that matched all the numbers drawn last Wednesday, so they didn't have to split the prize.

Myrna Shearer bought the ticket - a quick pick - at the York's Bookland gift shop, which will get $100,000 bonus just for selling it.

On Oct. 6, a group of 22 workers at the U.S. Postal Service's Bulk Mail Center in Northeast Philadelphia claimed a Powerball jackpot worth $10,282,776.35 in cash - before Uncle Sam's 25 percent take.

In August, a ticket worth $43.5 million in cash was picked up at the Turkey Hill Mini Market in Willow Street, Pa., just south of Lancaster.

Barrie Edwards and his wife, Jean, shared the winning with a dozen family members. He didn't even buy it - he got it as a promotional freebie for buying two Match 6 tickets.

The Shearers purchased the 12th ticket from Pennsylvania to win Powerball since the state joined the multi-state game in 2002.

The biggest prize ever won for a Pennsylvania-purchased ticket was $110 million cash. Steve and Kristine White won it in May 2004. However, they were actually from Skillman, N.J., north of Princeton.

In December of that year, Florence Ayers of Mars, Butler County, hit a Powerball jackpot worth $93 million cash - the biggest won by a Pennsylvanian. She split it with a son from Butler County and a daughter from Ohio.

The Shearers' winning numbers were 20, 30, 37, 50 and 52 with a Powerball of 33.

Powerball is played in Pennsylvania, Delaware and 27 other states, plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.

Tomorrow night's jackpot has an annuity value of $20 million, or $10 million cash.

The other multistate lottery, Mega Millions, has a $31 million jackpot on the line tonight. Its cash payout to single winner would be about $18.7 million - before taxes, of course.

Mega Millions is played in a dozen states, including New Jersey, Maryland and New York.

For more information, go to http://www.philly.com/philly/news/lottery.