Single ticket scoops $590m jackpot in Florida lottery

Host Sam Arlen speaks as the Powerball number (R) is about to be chosen at the Florida Lottery studio in Tallahassee May 18, 2013. The winning numbers are 22, 10, 13, 14, 52, and the Powerball number is 11. The Powerball jackpot is a record-setting $590.5 (AP)

A single ticket in Florida has matched all the numbers to win the highest Powerball lottery jackpot in history at an estimated 590.5 million dollars (£389.2m), officials said today.

The winning ticket was sold at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Florida, according to Florida Lottery executive Cindy O'Connell.

The winner was not immediately identified publicly and Ms O'Connell did not give any indication if anyone had stepped forward to claim the jackpot for last night's draw.

The winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11.

The chances of winning the prize were astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million. That's how many different ways you can combine the numbers when you play. But lottery officials estimated that about 80% of those possible combinations had been purchased recently.

That didn't deter people across Powerball-playing states - 43 plus Washington, D.C., and the US Virgin Islands - from lining up at petrol stations and stores yesterday for their chance at striking it filthy rich.

The world's largest jackpot was a 656 million dollars (£432.3m) Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012.

AP