The customer has yet to come forward
TRENTON -- The person who bought the lone winning ticket for the $429.6 million Powerball jackpot became a lot richer over the weekend -- and it only cost them $6.
New Jersey State Lottery executive director Carole Hedinger said Monday that the ticket was purchased at 5:20 p.m. last Tuesday at the 7-Eleven store on Chambers Street in Trenton.
The customer spent $2 for single, manual plays for the Wednesday and Saturday night drawings and spent an extra $1 on each ticket to get the "Power Play" option that multiplies the winnings.
The customer played the same numbers for both drawings: 5-25-26-44-66 with a Powerball number of 9. The winning ticket was purchased as a cash ticket and is valued at $284 million.
"For a total of $6, he or she is going to cash in $284 million," Hedinger said. "That's a pretty good investment."
The customer has yet to come forward, and though he or she has up to a year to claim the prize, Hedinger urged them to sign the back of the ticket and bring it to the lottery headquarters in nearby Lawrence.
"Get professional advice, take your time in deciding what to do," she said. "But in the meantime, we will validate the ticket and hold it until it's decided how you want to claim the ticket. So whoever you are, please come forward. Bring us that ticket and let us keep it safe for you."
Store owner Andrea Shim, who received a $30,000 bonus, said there is a good chance that the winner is local.
"It's very residential so we have a lot of repeat customers everyday," she said. "The odds are most likely, we do know who the person is, but either way, we're just excited for the winner.
"I know this is probably overwhelming for them," she continued, "but I just want to say 'Good luck and I hope it brings such positive things to your life. It's life changing.'"
Shim, who has owned the store with her husband, Luis Soler, for 10 years, said the last big win they had before Saturday's win was a $20,000 instant-bingo ticket several years ago.
"I hope that we are a lucky store now and we do get more winners," she said. "That would be wonderful."
Shim said she and Soler don't play the lottery often, but tend to buy a ticket when the jackpot gets big.
"When we found out it was Mercer County, I looked at my husband and said, 'Did you buy a ticket?' And he's like 'No' and I'm like, 'Of course we didn't,'" Shim said. "But in the end, we lucked out too so it's pretty exciting."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find NJ.com on Facebook.