In one of the third largest jackpots in the "Powerball" lottery, a participant won a $1.08 billion

A Powerball spokesman said that the winning ticket in Wednesday night's draw was sold at Las Palmitas Minimarket, in Los Angeles, adding that this is the first time the jackpot has been won since April of this year, according to (Sky News).

The level of final ticket sales pushed the jackpot cap to a level above its previous estimate of $1 billion (£772m) to $1.08 billion (£835m).

The winner of the ticket - whose name is made public under California law - can choose to either claim the jackpot in instalments with annual increments or take the total amount of $558.1m (£431m) in a single payment before tax.

Other participants won a third, fourth and fifth jackpot, which totaled around $1.5 billion (£1.15 billion), in another lottery called Mega Millions.

Powerball tickets are on sale in 45 US states, as well as Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, designed to offer prizes that attract large numbers of participants.

Source: Skynews + "The Middle East newspaper"