Record American jackpot: US$365 million
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-20 06:50

Someone, somewhere held the only winning ticket for the record $365 million Powerball jackpot, but likely wasn't in a rush to come forward, Nebraska lottery officials said Sunday.

People wait in line outside the Executive Corner Deli in Byram, Conn., Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006, in Byram, Conn., for Powerball Lottery tickets. [AP]

The only ticket matching the winning numbers drawn Saturday night for the multistate lottery was sold at a U-Stop convenience store in Lincoln, Nebraska Lottery spokesman Brian Rockey said.

It was the biggest jackpot on record for any lottery in the United States.

No one had come forward to claim the jackpot Sunday, Rockey said.

"We don't know if the winner knows yet," he said.

Even when the lucky individual or group realizes it, they might not leap into the public eye.

"We have found ... that they tend to wait until they have sought legal counsel or financial counsel," Jim Haynes, acting director of the Nebraska Lottery, said of large jackpot winners.

Whoever it is, U-Stop store clerk Stacey Carey has a message for them.

"If I sold the ticket to 'em I hope they'd share in the winnings — at least, even one-tenth of a percent would suit me just fine," Carey told AP Radio in a telephone interview.

Rockey said lottery officials planned to go to the store Sunday to verify the sale, which would entitle the store owner to a $50,000 bonus.

The store was swarmed with reporters and customers Sunday, said owner Mick Mandl.

"Everybody wants to talk to us," he said. "They're excited."

The winning numbers drawn Saturday were 15, 17, 43, 44 and 48, with a Powerball number of 29, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association of Des Moines, Iowa, which runs the game for the participating states.

The ticket holder has the option of taking the money in one lump sum or installments over 30 years. The cash option is $177.8 million, or $124.46 million after taxes. On the installment plan, the first payment would be $6,507,986 after taxes.

The previous U.S. lottery jackpot record was $363 million for the Big Game, the forerunner of Mega Millions. That was won by two ticket holders in Illinois and Michigan in 2000. Powerball's previous record jackpot, $340 million, was won by an Oregon family in October.

Powerball is played in 28 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.