And the winner is …?

When it was first announced that there was just one winner in the $456.7 million Powerball jackpot on St. Patrick’s Day and that the winner was from Pennsylvania, just about everyone wanted to know two things: Who is the winner and where was the winning ticket sold?

It took a couple of days, but we finally found out that the ticket was sold at a Speedway convenience store in Manheim, Lancaster County, but we still do not know the name of the winner, because he or she has not come forward publicly.

The jackpot was the eighth-largest in Powerball history, growing to its impressive size after no one had connected with all five numbers and the power ball for 19 drawings. The previous winner was a New Hampshire woman who won a $560 million jackpot on Jan. 10 and touched off a firestorm over whether her identity should be revealed.

She fought and won a legal battle to remain anonymous after a judge ruled in her favor on March 12. Her attorney accepted a lump-sum check for $352 million, about $264 million after taxes, on her behalf. He gave nearly $250,000 almost immediately to several nonprofit groups and said his client plans to give away up to $50 million more in the future.

Just in case you are wondering why the $560 million drops to $352 million, it depends on whether the winner takes the amount in an annuity over 29 years or immediately in a lump-sum payment.

Either way, the winner must pay federal income taxes and, in some cases, state taxes. Some states do not tax lottery winnings as an inducement to produce higher sales.

If the latest Pennsylvania winner wants to keep his or her identify secret, the person would likely face a similar legal battle as the New Hampshire winner. The Pennsylvania Lottery requires winners to be named to ensure transparency and integrity, a lottery representative said.

Pennsylvania and New Hampshire have similar laws when it comes to disclosing the names of lottery winners. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office said lottery rules require the winner’s name, hometown and amount won to be open for public consumption in accordance with open-records laws.

The woman who won the jackpot admitted that she made a mistake by signing her name to the back of the winning ticket. Some winners have formed trusts which allow them to remain anonymous.

Despite the clarity of the New Hampshire law, Judge Charles Temple ruled that revealing the woman’s name would invade her privacy because lottery winners are subject to solicitation, harassment and violence.

As evidence, the judge cited how a winner received a bomb threat; another was the victim of nonstop sale and solicitation phone calls and scores of requests for handouts and contributions.

Since the Powerball game started in 2002, there have been 17 winners in Pennsylvania, but none of them lives in the five-county Times News region.

The most recent winner prior to this month’s was Patricia Chandler of Upper Darby, who won a relatively small jackpot of $77.4 million in 2013.

The other statewide winners were: Roger Custer, of Levittown, $33.1 million; employees of SEPTA from the Philadelphia area, $107.5 million; Steven Lloyd of Harding, Luzerne County, $37.6 million; Palmira Nicolo of Wyndmoor, Montgomery County, $46.6 million; Myrna and Thomas Shearer of York, $30.2 million; “Lucky 22,” the postal workers from southeastern Pennsylvania, $10.2 million; 14 members of the Edwards and Funk families of Lancaster, $42.5 million; Bob and Patty Maczura of Cranberry Township, Butler County, $10.16 million;

Also, Kathleen Fitzgerald, Karen Rodgers and Janet Bigler of Pittsburgh, $14.7 million; members of the Joe Petto family of Philadelphia shared $5.6 million each; WLT Trust of New Castle, $93.4 million; Jim and Tom Hare of Drexel Hill, $26.9 million; Steve and Kristine White of Skillman, New Jersey, $110.2 million; Lisa Ensor of York, $60.1 million; Scott and Marian Calligan of Cranberry Township, Butler County, $73.6 million, and Edward Varley of Hatfield, Montgomery County, $30.7 million.

The largest Powerball jackpot nationwide was won in the Jan. 13, 2016, drawing — $1,586,000,000 — and split among winners in Chino Hills, California; Munford, Tennessee, and Melbourne Beach, Florida.

Oh, yes, let’s not forget that the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 292.2 million to 1.

I have saved about $2,500 by never having played the Powerball game since its inception in the state.

You can save $208 a year by not buying a ticket for the twice-a-week drawings.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com