1 winning ticket for gigantic jackpot

DES MOINES, Iowa — A single winning ticket matching all six numbers was sold in Massachusetts after lottery players across the U.S. scooped up $2 Powerball tickets in hopes of winning a massive $758.7 million jackpot in Wednesday night’s drawing.

Despite incredibly long odds, people throughout the country watched as five white balls and one red ball were drawn from a drum containing 69 balls.

The winning numbers are 6, 7, 16, 23 and 26, and the Powerball number is 4. Powerball officials did not immediately disclose the location where the winning ticket was sold.

The odds of matching all six numbers are 1 in 292.2 million, regardless of the jackpot prize. A larger prize attracts more players and that means more number combinations are selected, so the probability increases that one or more people will buy winning tickets.

Cornelius Nelan, a mathematics professor at Quinnipiac University, puts the odds in perspective by noting they’re about the same as flipping a coin and getting heads 28 times in a row.

The jackpot is second only to a $1.6 billion prize shared by three people in January 2016.

The $700 million prize reflects the annuity option, paid over 29 years. A winner who wants cash would receive $443.3 million, minus federal and state taxes that generally eat up more than 30 percent of winnings. Some states, including California and Texas, don’t assess state taxes on lottery prizes, so winners in those spots would be just a bit richer.

Powerball is played in 44 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.