PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nicole Madison holds her son, Jacob Madison, Jr, 1, as she and her husband, Jacob Madison, right, pick their Powerball numbers while waiting in line at Lichine’s Liquor store, Wednesday in Sacramento, Calif.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A winning ticket in Wednesday night’s record $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot was sold in suburban Los Angeles, a spokesman for the California lottery said.
It could take several hours before officials know whether any winning tickets were sold elsewhere. The winning numbers were 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10.
One winning ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, Calif., said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for that state’s lottery. The identity of the winner is not yet known.
The store and its surrounding strip mall immediately became a wildly popular gathering spot in the usually quiet Los Angeles suburb. TV footage showed hundreds of people, from news crews to gawkers, crowded the store and spilled into its parking lot.
They cheered and mugged for TV cameras as if it were New Year’s Eve or a sporting event. Many chanted, “Chino Hills! Chino Hills!” in celebration of their city. Some took selfies with the store clerk on duty.
The 7-Eleven will get a $1 million bonus for selling the winning ticket, Traverso said.
Officials with the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the Powerball game, said they expected more than 85 percent of the possible number combinations would have been bought for the drawing. The odds of winning were 1 in 292.2 million.
Winners have to pay 39.6 percent of the prize in federal income taxes, in addition to any state taxes.
Estimated jackpot amounts, which are released daily, have been steadily rising since Nov. 4, when the jackpot was reset at $40 million.
Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
But residents in the six states that don’t participate found ways to get their hands on tickets. Some of the biggest Powerball sales have come from cities bordering states that don’t sell the tickets, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association. The association oversees the Powerball Lottery, but management rotates annually among member states.
