Newport, Rhode Island Powerball Winner Louise...

The lottery winner claimed her grand prize Tuesday at Rhode Island Lottery headquarters in Cranston, Rhode Island. Governor Lincoln Chafee was in attendance at the press conference.

Congratulations to Louise White, Latest Powerball Lottery Winner!

Louise White is the proud lottery winner of the largest jackpot in Rhode Island Lottery history, and the third largest Powerball jackpot in Powerball history. Only two other Powerball jackpots have been larger than hers. The largest Powerball jackpot ever won was $365,000,000 in 2006 by the ConAgra Foods Coworkers in Nebraska.

For over three weeks, the Rhode Island Powerball winner and her family have been sitting on the winning Powerball ticket, totally excited and hardly able to contain themselves. All this time, White said she's been sleeping with the winning ticket in her Bible! In the meantime, she's been getting legal and financial counsel and advice on how best to handle all that money. That's wise on her part. $336,400,000 is a lot of money to spread around, and you can be sure there will be all sorts of friends and relatives coming out of the woodwork that she never knew she had. She better change her phone number immediately as these friends will now be calling for help!

Council for Louise White said the winning ticket is being claimed by "Rainbow Sherbet Trust." Funnily enough, Louise White was in the local Stop & Shop supermarket on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, purchasing rainbow sherbert when she bought the winning Powerball ticket. Makes perfect sense! White's lucky February 11, 2012 Powerball winning numbers were 1, 10, 37, 52, 57, and the Powerball number was 11.

Louise White has the option of taking the annuitized amount of $336,400,000 in 30 annual payments, with her getting the first payment immediately and then an annual payment for the next 29 years. However, the 81-year-old Rhode Island Powerball winner Louise White might want to take all that money in cash! That means she'll receive about $210,000,000 before state and federal taxes. Uncle Sam is going to be mighty happy with his take! As for Rhode Island? The little Ocean State will get a little more than $12 million in taxes on the prize winnings.

When is the Next Powerball Drawing?

The next Powerball drawing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 10:59pm ET with an estimated jackpot of $60,000,000 annuity, or $37,100,000 cash-value. The Powerball game is played in 42 States, Washington D.C. and the US Virgin Islands. The Powerball winning numbers are drawn live Wednesday and Saturday evenings.

Please Play Responsibly

Remember, playing the lottery should be fun, but sometimes too much lottery fun can be addictive and could ruin lives. Please play responsibly, and don't spend more than you're willing to lose.