Powerball: One winning ticket sold for $1.08bn jackpot

Powerball holds the current world record for the largest national lottery jackpot

One winning US lottery ticket was sold for Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot of $1.08bn (£837m), lottery officials announced.

The winning ticket was bought at the Las Palmitas Mini Market in Los Angeles.

The Powerball ticket matched all six numbers required to score the jackpot - 7, 10, 11, 13 and 24, with a Powerball of 24.

The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292.2 million, Powerball says.

It is unclear whether the winning ticket holder has claimed the prize. If nobody claims the money, it goes back into the unclaimed prize pot.

When claimed, they have the option of receiving the full amount of $1.08bn in an annuity paid over three decades, or they can take a smaller cash option as a lump sum.

However, almost all winners opt for the up-front cash option, which in this case has a value of $558.1m before taxes.

Nabor Herrera owns the Las Palmitas Mini Market where the winning ticket was sold.

He told local reporters he wasn't aware the jackpot ticket had been bought at his shop until he was greeted by a crowd of reporters as he arrived at work Thursday morning.

The retailer that sells the winning Powerball ticket also receives $1m (£778,000). Mr Herrera told reporters he plans to invest the money back into his business and thanks God for the win. He'll get the money whether or not someone comes forward to claim the prize.

The store, located in central Los Angeles, is just steps away from the Skid Row neighbourhood, which has a large number of homeless people.

Powerball said final ticket sales pushed the jackpot beyond its earlier estimate of $1bn to $1.08bn at the time of the draw.

"This has turned into a historic jackpot run; this is only the third time in Powerball's 31-year history that a jackpot has reached the billion-dollar threshold," said Drew Svitko, Powerball product group chair and Pennsylvania Lottery executive director.

No one had won the Powerball or its competing lottery, Mega Millions, since April. Both prizes rose to some of their highest amounts ever in recent weeks. A Mega Millions draw for $720m is due on Friday.

The last time someone won the Powerball jackpot before Wednesday's draw was on 19 April for a top prize of nearly $253m.

Powerball holds the current world record for the largest national lottery jackpot.

A record prize was won in November by California resident Edwin Castro, who was the sole winner of the $2.05bn prize, according to the Guinness World Records. In May, a fellow Californian sued Mr Castro, claiming the lucky ticket was stolen from him. The California Lottery has maintained that it is confident Mr Castro is the rightful winner.