Image: The winning Powerball numbers are shown after being drawn at the Florida Lottery studio in Tallahassee, Florida January 13, 2016. REUTERS/Philip Sears
REUTERS – One winning ticket matched the numbers drawn on Saturday night for the multi-state Powerball jackpot for a payout estimated at $429.6 million, the ninth-highest U.S. lottery prize in history, officials said.
The winning numbers selected just before 11 p.m. EDT were 25 66 44 5 26 with the Powerball 9. Lottery officials said one ticket, purchased in New Jersey, had the winning combination, according to media reports.
The winner was not identified. Winners of huge lottery payouts sometimes do not come forward publicly for months.
It was the largest jackpot for any U.S. lottery since January, when three Powerball tickets split a record $1.6 billion.
The odds of winning at Powerball are one in 292 million. Statistics experts say that means an American is roughly 25 times more likely to become the next president of the United States than to win the game.
Kelly Cripe, a Texas-based lottery spokeswoman, said Saturday’s Powerball followed 17 consecutive draws without a winner.
A spate of late ticket-buying on Saturday increased the jackpot by some $15 million, to an estimated $429.6 million.Powerball is played in 44 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and Chris Michaud; Editing by Digby Lidstone, Eric Meijer and Paul Tait)
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