[ot-caption title=”People line up near Primm, Nevada on Tuesday to buy Powerball tickets for Wednesday’s drawing. (John Locher, AP Photo)”]

The largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history, totaling an astonishing $1.5 billion, has been claimed by three lucky winners this week.

The three winners with the winning numbers 8, 27, 34, 4 and 19, and Powerball number 10 from Melbourne Beach (FL), Chino Hills (CA), and Munford (TN) will each receive an equal portion of this record Powerball jackpot. In addition to the three winning tickets, many others were able to claim lottery prizes of up to $1 million.

The recent $1.5 billion jackpot also set a new record in North American lottery history. The previous record was held by a Mega Millions jackpot of $656 million in March of 2012.  According to Reuters, Spain’s annual Christmas Lottery (or Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad) has an enormous lottery jackpot, totaling $2.45 billion in 2015. While Spain’s Christmas Lottery jackpot is eventually claimed by thousands of people, the Powerball jackpot can only be won by a single person. To put it into perspective, its value is equivalent to a trip to the moon, the Gross Domestic Output of St. Lucia or 1100 ounces of gold, according to CNBC.

However, the odds of winning the actual jackpot are extremely meager and are approximately 1 in 292 million, which according to the International Business Times, are lower odds than the odds of becoming the President of the United States (which are 1 in 10 million).

Surprisingly, there were no winning tickets during the preceding 19 Powerball drawings. Therefore, while the jackpot increased tremendously, so were ticket sales, as an estimated $2.6 billion in Powerball tickets were sold in the past two months. This revenue goes directly to the 36 member lotteries of the non-profit Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) and is used to fund state-approved projects.

The three winners can choose between receiving a lump sum of approximately $187 million each or smaller payments over several decades. Additionally, the three winners are not subject to any taxes in their respective states, since all three states (Florida, Tennessee & California) either do not have an income tax or have a law that exempts winning ticket-holders from any state taxes.  However, a 39.6% federal tax will be applied regardless of what state the winners live in.

Until now, not all three of the Powerball winning ticket-holders have come forward. The ticket in Chino Hills, CA was sold in a local store, while Florida’s winning ticket was sold in a Publix Supermarket. According to Powerball rules, winners have 180 days to claim their lottery prize.

Sources: CNN News, International Business News, Reuters, USA Today, CNBC

Photo Source: John Locher