15億美元強力球樂透有三人中獎

The western U.S. state of California and the southeastern states of Tennessee and Florida all have winners in the record-breaking Powerball lottery with a jackpot of $1.5 billion.

A spokesman for the California lottery, Alex Traverso, said late Wednesday that a winning ticket had been purchased at a 7-11 convenience store in Chino Hills, an affluent suburb of Los Angeles. The locations of the winning ticket sales in Tennessee and Florida were not yet known. No names or other details about the winners have been released.

The odds of a winning ticket were estimated at one in 292.2 million.

Multiple Powerball winners must share equally in the prize money. They can take a lump sum, subject to hefty tax withholdings, or a yearly annuity for 29 years, which is taxed as it is doled out.

Most of the 50 U.S. states allow lotteries to operate; but in the six that do not, much business was generated along the borders with states that do allow the sale of lottery tickets.

Tickets were even being sold in China, thanks to brokers on the Internet. It was not clear how any Chinese winners would transfer their winnings to a Chinese bank.

The store selling the winning ticket became a tourist attraction Wednesday night, as onlookers and news crews crowded into the parking lot. The store will win a $1 million prize for selling a winning ticket.美國西部的加利福尼亞州、東南部的田納西州和佛羅里達州都有人中了強力球樂透大獎。本次強力球獎金金額爲15億美元，創歷史最高紀錄。

加利福尼亞州樂透發言人特拉弗索星期三晚間說，中獎彩票是在奇諾崗一家7-11連鎖店售出的，奇諾崗位於洛杉磯郊區，屬富裕地區。田納西州和佛羅里達州獲獎彩票的售出地點還不清楚。目前尚未公佈有關中獎者的任何細節。

據估算，本次強力球的中獎機率爲2億9220萬分之一。

如有超過一人中獎，則獎金由中獎者們均分。他們可以在扣除高額稅金後一次領取，也可以分29年逐年領取，逐年交稅。

美國50個州里大多數州都允許樂透博彩業的運作，六個禁止博彩業的州里的居民只好跨過州界，到臨近允許博彩業的州去買彩票。

通過網上代理商，美國樂透彩票甚至遠銷中國，但不清楚中國公民一旦中獎，會通過何種方式把獎金轉入中國的銀行帳號。

星期三晚上，那家售出中獎彩票的7-11便利店儼然成了旅遊景點，停車場裏都擠滿了看熱鬧的人和電視臺新聞攝像組。這家商店因爲售出大獎彩票，將獲得100萬美元獎金。