Off the wire
• China Hushen 300 index futures close higher Thursday  • 4th LD Writethru: Indonesian president condemns Jakarta attacks, 1 police, 3 civilians killed  • LDP lawmaker calls "comfort women" prostitutes in latest blow to S. Korea-Japan accord  • News Analysis: Venezuela should avoid constitutional crisis at any cost  • Chinese shares close higher Thursday  • Interview: U.S.-LatAm ties to be reassessed given China's new role: Chile's ex-president  • Al-Jazeera to close U.S. branch  • Another fugitive nabbed overseas  • Roundup: Scholars hail China's policy paper on ties with Arab world  • Roundup: S.Korea's c.bank lowers 2016 growth forecast to 3.0 pct  
You are here: 　 Home

U.S. powerball lottery jackpot skyrockets to 1.6 billion USD

Xinhua, January 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

At least three winning tickets were sold in Wednesday's Powerball jackpot, which surged to an estimated 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, the largest in U.S. history.

The winning numbers - 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball number 10 - were drawn Wednesday night.

A California Lottery official said a winning ticket was produced in the state. The Associated Press is reporting that winning tickets were also sold in Tennessee and Florida.

A Powerball ticket costs 2 dollars. The game's jackpot starts at 40 million dollars and grows until it is won. Players choose their first five numbers from a pool of 69 and another number -- called the Powerball -- from a separate pool of 26.

The Powerball lottery is played in 44 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and two U.S. territories: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The jackpot reached 500 million dollars last Wednesday, and surged to 950 million dollars on Sunday. Both drawings did not produce a matching ticket.

The previous record lottery jackpot payout for North America was in March, 2012, when 656 million dollars was won in the Mega Millions lottery.

The Powerball lottery is operated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). It is a non-profit, government-benefit association owned and operated by its 36 member lotteries. All profits are retained by the state lottery and are used to fund projects approved by the state legislatures. Endi