Lottery winner gets $340 million, second-richest jackpot in U.S. history

A lucky owner of a ticket sold in Oregon that matched all six numbers drawn in the Powerball game won the $340 million (Ђ284.52 million) jackpot.

The drawing Wednesday capped off a day of heavy sales in all 27 states where Powerball is played, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

It was the largest jackpot in the game's history and the second-biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history.

The winning numbers drawn Wednesday evening were 7, 21, 43, 44, 49 and 29.

There were 47 tickets sold that matched the first five numbers drawn but failed to match the Powerball to win $200,000 (Ђ167,364).

The Powerball jackpot had been snowballing since mid-August, with 20 straight drawings in which no one won the grand prize.

"We're swimming in it today," said Marianne Ward at the Cash & Dash in Little River, S.C. "We've sold more than $2,000 in tickets since 6 a.m."

Mary Neubauer, spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, said hundreds of ticket buyers had played a set of numbers from the ABC drama "Lost," which featured a character who won $156 million by playing a string of digits obtained from a patient in a mental institution: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42.

"I just think it speaks to people's fascination with numbers and the what-if factor," Neubauer said.

The odds of hitting all six numbers were 1 in 146 million.

Susie Siebke crossed the Mississippi River from Illinois to buy 25 Powerball tickets for herself and five co-workers. "We only buy just whenever it gets this high," Siebke, 30, said as she stood in line at a convenience store in Bettendorf.

The biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history was $363 million, won by two ticket holders in Illinois and Michigan in 2000, reports the AP.

P.T.