At least one jackpot winner in $1.6 billion US lottery!
Ticket sales for the Powerball draw topped more than $609 million nationwide.
Los Angeles: A winning ticket in Wednesday night's record $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot was sold in suburban Los Angeles, a spokesman for the California lottery says.
It could take several hours before officials know whether any winning tickets were sold elsewhere. The winning numbers were 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10.
One winning ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, California, said Alex Travesta, a spokesman for that state's lottery. The identity of the winner is not yet known.
When you win tonight's Powerball jackpot, what will you do with $1.5 billion? ðŸ'µ https://t.co/5wHdpuVUvB ðŸ'µ
— Twitter (@twitter) January 14, 2016Officials with the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the Powerball game, said they expected more than 85 percent of the possible number combinations would have been bought for the drawing. The odds of winning were 1 in 292.2 million.
Winners have to pay 39.6 percent of the prize in federal income taxes, in addition to any state taxes.
Estimated jackpot amounts, which are released daily, have been steadily rising since Nov. 4, when the jackpot was reset at $40 million.
Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
But residents in the six states that don't participate are finding ways to get their hands on tickets. Some of the biggest Powerball sales have come from cities bordering states that don't sell the tickets, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association. The association oversees the Powerball Lottery, but management rotates annually among member states.