(Des Moines) The unprecedented $2.04 billion Powerball lottery jackpot draw finally took place on Tuesday morning.
Punters are now waiting to find out if the jackpot has been won somewhere. Otherwise, the next jackpot will be even bigger.
The winning combination drawn in Tallahassee, Florida is 10, 33, 41, 47 and 56 for the white balls, and 10 for the red Powerball.
The draw was first to take place on Monday evening. The Multi-State Lottery Association was however forced to postpone it to Tuesday morning due to technical issues. It was estimated Monday evening that the jackpot would be 1.9 billion US, but the stock market reached rather 2.04 billion US Tuesday morning.
The jackpot exceeds the previous record by nearly 400 million US. Only four jackpots have exceeded US$1 billion, but none have ever come close to the amount in play on Tuesday.
The original jackpot was $20 million at the start of August. Three months of draws without a winner have inflated it to more than 2 billion US.
If the jackpot is won on Tuesday, the winner can choose to receive the full amount spread over 29 years. The vast majority of winners choose the lump sum instead, which would be around US$929 million in this case.
A ticket has a one in 292.2 million chance of winning, which explains why 40 draws have been made without a winner so far.
Forty-five US states participate in the Powerball lottery, in addition to Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
