Winning lottery ticket worth $340 million was sold in Oregon Gold Rush town

Friday, Oct. 21, 2005 | 7:31 a.m.

The winner of the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot bought the lucky ticket either at Ray's Food Place or J'Ville Tavern, the town's only lottery-ticket sellers. A runner-up ticket worth $850,000 also was sold in Jacksonville.

"We used to have gold. Now we have gold again," said J'Ville Tavern owner Andy Gough, who was waiting to find out if she and her husband would be winners, too. The seller of the winning ticket receives $100,000.

As of Thursday afternoon, no one had come forward to claim the jackpot.

Referring to her business as a "working man's tavern," Gough said: "I just hope it's one of our regular customers who can really use it."

The winning numbers drawn Wednesday evening were 7, 21, 43, 44, 49 and 29. The winner can take the money in an after-tax lump sum of $110 million, or receive 30 annual installments of about $7.6 million.

Ray's Food Place in Jacksonville sold one of the 49 runnerup tickets that matched five numbers. Among those winners was U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican who said he bought his tickets on a whim at a Washington, D.C., gas station.

Jacksonville was a rough-and-tumble boomtown after a Gold Rush in the 1850s. The town began to fade as the richer ore dwindled, and Jacksonville became something of a ghost town.

It has revived in recent years thanks in part to its proximity to Medford, and is home to the summer Britt Music Festival. The town is on the National Register of Historic Places and has kept much of its Western flavor.

The biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history was $363 million, won by two ticket holders in Illinois and Michigan in 2000.

Powerball is played in 27 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.