People wait to enter a California lotto store on the Nevada/California state line. (Photo/Agencies)
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.
