Thirteen machine-shop workers from Ohio won the biggest-ever Powerball lottery prize, a cash lump sum of $161.5 million before taxes, a spokeswoman for the company where they work said yesterday.
"We know that they won, but the workers right now want to stay anonymous," said Ms Barb Palmer, head of accounting at ATS Ohio Inc, in a Columbus, Ohio, suburb.
Ms Billie Eisnnicher, who said she was the sister of one of the winners, said she had seen the ticket, worth $12.42 million to each of the group.
If confirmed as the winning ticket-holders, the workers would have beaten odds of 80 million to 1 to capture the jackpot. The numbers were 8, 39, 43, 45, 49 and 13.
The workers were on their way from Westerville to Indianapolis yesterday to claim their prize, according to a radio report.
One of the group bought the ticket at a petrol station in Richmond, Indiana, on the Ohio border, the radio station said.
Mr Jim Maguire, director of Indiana's Hoosier Lottery, confirmed that the winning ticket was sold in Richmond and said the winning ticket-holder had chosen to receive the payout as a lump sum. Players must decide in advance, when they buy the ticket, whether to take the prize as an annuity, totalling nearly $300 million, or in a cash lump of $161.5 million.
Booming sales in the final hours of Wednesday night lifted the jackpot from an expected $250 million to about $296 million, lottery officials said.
The Speedway gas station on the west side of Richmond that sold the ticket will receive $100,000, Mr Maguire said.