It was history in the making Wednesday night as the biggest lottery jackpot ever was drawn in the Powerball lottery game with a total jackpot of $1,568,400,000.
Wednesday’s winning numbers are:8-27-34-4-19 and the Powerball is 10.
The Powerball jackpot had rolled over 19 times since early November.
Lottery officials said 85.8 percent of possible number combinations had been selected by midday Wednesday, increasing the chances that someone would win the world's largest lottery jackpot. But the odds of winning were still extraordinarily slim, at 1 in 292.2 million.
The California Lottery tweeted just minutes after the drawing that they had a winning ticket sold in the state.
ABC News confirmed two other first prize tickets were sold in Tennessee and Florida.
Channel 2 Action News also confirmed that two $1 million tickets were sold in Atlanta and Douglas, Georgia.
The Georgia Lottery also confirmed a $100,000 winner and 30 $50,000 winners in Georgia.
The Jackpot by the numbers:
JACKPOT: $1.5 Billion
CASH PAYOUT: $930 Million
FEDERAL TAXES: (39.6%): -$368,280,000
GEORGIA TAXES: (6%): -$55,800,000
TAKE HOME: $505,920,000
The people who matched all the winning numbers can choose between annual payments over 29 years or one lump-sum payment. They can let the jackpot be invested and thereby collect 30 annual payments totaling an estimated $533 million, or split $983.5 million in cash all at once. Winners have to pay 39.6 percent of the prize in federal income taxes, in addition to any state taxes.
Winners in three states
The winning tickets were sold in Chino Hills, California; Melbourne Beach, Florida and Munford, Tennessee.
The California store and its surrounding strip mall suddenly became a popular gathering spot in the usually quiet suburb of 75,000. Hundreds of people, from news crews to gawkers, crowded the store and spilled into its parking lot, cheering and mugging for the cameras, and chanting "Chino Hills! Chino Hills!"
"It's history. We're all so excited for our city," Rita Talwar, 52, who has lived in Chino Hills for 30 years, told the local San Bernardino Sun.
The 7-11's owner, Balbir Atwal, arrived to find people cheering in the parking lot. Some took selfies with the store clerk, who became an instant celebrity and may well have been the man who sold the ticket.
"I'm very proud that the ticket was sold here," the clerk, M. Faroqui, told the Sun. "I'm very happy. This is very exciting."
