Powerball officials drew the winning numbers Wednesday night in the richest lottery jackpot in world history, with the winner receiving up to $1.5 billion.
The winning numbers were 4-8-19-27-34, with the red Powerball being 10.
At least one winning number was drawn, at a 7-11 in Chino Hills, according to California state lottery officials.
The project of a jackpot in the hundreds of millions, even after taking into account state and federal taxes and the possibility of a split pot, led to a buying frenzy Wednesday in the 44 states that, along with the District of Columbia and some U.S. territories, participate in the lottery.
CNN reported Wednesday evening that the $2 tickets were being sold at the rate of $100 million per hour and in lines that would often snake out of the stores selling the billion-dollar chance. The vendors, often convenience stores and mom-and-pop outlets appreciated the extra business.
“I couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t even eat,” Anastasia Walsh, who owns a Marketplace shop in Des Moines, Iowa, told the Associated Press. “I couldn’t even sit down because I’m constantly standing up. I mean there’s people lined up. It’s crazy.”
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The $1.5 billion figure would be paid out over 29 years. Should the winner take a smaller amount in a lump sum, as most really big lottery winners have chosen to do, it would be still be around $930 million, though almost 40 percent of that, or more than $370 million, would go straight to Uncle Sam. California, and most other participating states, also has an income tax.
More than one winner is also a strong possibility. Of the five previous U.S. lottery jackpots to become a national event by having a top prize of at least $500 million — the previous record being a $656 million Mega Millions prize in 2012 — only one was won by a single player.
The chances of picking all six numbers are slim though — one in 292 million.
“The odds are so large,” Scott A. Norris, an assistant professor of mathematics at Southern Methodist University, told AP, “that people don’t have any sense of what they mean.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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