A SINGLE winning ticket for a record US Powerball lottery jackpot worth $590.5 million (R5.3 billion) was sold in Florida, organisers said on Saturday, but there was no immediate word about who won or where in the state the ticket was bought.
The odds of winning Saturday night’s drawing were put at one in 175 million.
The grand prize, accumulated after two months of drawings, surpassed the previous record Powerball payoff of $587.5m, set in November last year, but fell short of the $600m sum lottery officials had been advertising.
Organisers had said the final jackpot total could end up slightly higher or lower than expected depending on final sales reported by all 43 participating states.
The Texas Lottery said ticket sales for the draw topped $18.4m, and the ticket sale rate on Saturday jumped 686 percent over the previous Saturday.
The largest jackpot in US history stands at $656m, won in the Mega Millions lottery of March last year. It was split between winners in three states.
The Multi-State Lottery Association announced Saturday’s Powerball results in a message on its website, saying, “There was one winner sold by the Florida Lottery for the last drawing’s $590 500 000 grand prize.”
Had Saturday’s draw failed to yield a winner, the jackpot for the next draw would have risen to $925m. After it was won, the jackpot was reset to $40m. – Reuters