Power Play

An unprecedented $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot will be divided among three winning tickets purchased in Tennessee, California and Florida.

Each ticket is worth $528.8 million, lottery officials said in California, one of 44 states plus Washington D.C. and two U.S. territories that sold millions of Powerball tickets.

The winning numbers were 08 27 34 04 19 and Powerball 10, picked in a drawing on Wednesday night. The odds of having the correct numbers: 1 in 292 million.

1. How much of the jackpot goes to the winner and where does the rest of it go?

Winners should expect to keep only about a third of the advertised jackpot or cash payout

2. Does the store that sold the winning ticket get anything?

Cohen said that the seller of the winning jackpot ticket will receive a $25,000 bonus from the lottery.

3. Why do some states have more jackpot winners than others?

"It’s pure randomness,"

4. Have there been cases when people have called in thinking that they’re the winner only to be told that they are wrong?

"Those calls are no fun," Gerteisen said. "It’s more fun when they think they only won a little prize and it turns out they are a big winner!"

5. What happens if someone tries to cash in a fake or falsified ticket?

The penalties differ by state and offenders can face criminal charges if caught.

6. Why is this Powerball jackpot so large?

This Powerball jackpot started out as $40 million on Nov. 7, 2015, but there was no jackpot winner in that drawing or the 19 others that followed.

7. How many tickets have been sold?

Since this jackpot started on Nov. 7, 1.325 billion tickets have been sold