SALEM, Ore. – Oregon state lottery officials say the winning 340 million-dollar Powerball ticket was sold in the southern part of the state, in one of two locations in the historic gold-rush town of Jacksonville.
No word yet from the person or people who own the winning ticket. A lottery spokesman says it might be a couple of days before the winner finally comes forward to claim the prize.
"We advise them to get their 15 minutes of fame out of the way at a press conference, but it's up to the winners to decide what to do," said lottery spokesman Chuck Baumann.
A long wait is usually a good sign, indicating that the winner is talking to financial advisers, Baumann said.
The jackpot is the biggest in Powerball history (search). It's the second-biggest lottery jackpot in U-S history. It had been building since mid-August; since then there had been 20 straight drawings in which nobody won the grand prize.
Lottery officials said the ticket was sold at either Ray's Food Place or J'ville Tavern in Jacksonville, a small, historic town near Medford in the southwest part of the state. The store that sold the winning ticket will receive a $100,000 bonus.
The winning numbers drawn Wednesday evening were 7, 21, 43, 44, 49 and 29. The lump sum option would be worth $110 million after taxes.
The odds of hitting all six numbers were 1 in 146 million. The jackpot had been snowballing since mid-August, with 20 straight drawings in which no one won the grand prize.
In the early morning drizzle, millionaire hopefuls in Oregon shared stories of lucky charms and near misses. "They're still on my 'fridge under my lucky magnet," said Roger Dowell, 35, a store manager at QFC, a grocery store in Portland.
Forty-seven tickets sold matched the first five numbers drawn but failed to match the Powerball. The holders win $200,000 each, plus a bonus of $653,492. Four of those tickets were sold in Oregon, including one in Jacksonville.
Jacksonville was a rough-and-tumble boomtown after a gold rush in the 1850s. The town began to fade as the richer ore dwindled, and Jacksonville became something of a ghost town.
It has revived in recent years thanks in part to its proximity to Medford, and is home to the summer Britt Music Festival.
Powerball is played in 27 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands (search).
The biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history was $363 million, won by two ticket holders in Illinois and Michigan in 2000.
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