Winning $1.6b Powerball tickets sold in three states

None of the winners’ identities have yet been revealed.

Lottery officials don’t yet know whether that winning player or players will have to share the jackpot with other winners.

Three Kentucky Lottery players matched all five white ball winning numbers but not the Powerball in Wednesday night’s drawing. Jennifer Berry, from Huntsville, Ala. picks her numbers for the Powerball jackpot as other hopefuls wait in line to buy lottery tickets at a gas station in Ardmore, Tenn.

State lottery officials said one jackpot-winning ticket was sold at the 7-Eleven at 4092 Chino Hills Parkway in Chino Hills, in San Bernardino County.

Lottery officials had said 85.8 percent of possible number combinations had been selected by midday Wednesday in what some had been saying was the biggest lottery jackpot in the world.

A news release from Tennessee lottery officials says the state also has a ticket that won $2 million.

The prospect of becoming instantly rich sparked a ticket-buying frenzy that was expected to have reached a rate of $1.3 million per minute during Wednesday’s evening rush hour, Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas lottery, told a news conference.

It was not clear how any Chinese winners would transfer their winnings to a Chinese bank; ticket brokers were recommending they hire a financial adviser to help with the process. They can take a lump sum, subject to hefty tax withholdings, or a yearly annuity for 29 years, which is taxed as it is doled out.

The odds of winning are 1 in 292.2 million.

At the tiny Marketplace shop in downtown Des Moines, owner Anastasia Walsh said her overall sales have been up about 10 percent in recent weeks because of all the Powerball sales.

Powerball sales were “exponentially higher” than normal, Grief said. The cash payout for that sat at an estimated $930 million before taxes. The odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 292.2 million.

But residents in the six states that don’t participate are finding ways to get their hands on tickets. That brings the total of winners to at least three. The association oversees the Powerball Lottery, but management rotates annually among member states.