Record $1.6bn US Powerball lottery has three winners

There are at least three winning tickets in the US for the record 1.6bn dollars (1.1bn pounds) lottery jackpot, officials have said.

美国强力球彩票摇出中奖号码，头奖奖金达到创纪录的16亿美元（11亿英镑），官方称至少有3张彩票中奖。

The winning tickets in the Powerball jackpot were sold in California, Tennessee and Florida.

3张中奖彩票来自加利福尼亚州、田纳西州和佛罗里达州。

The previous draw was the 19th without a grand prize winner, which requires all six numbers to match.

强力球彩票头奖需要匹配6个开出的号码，此前已经有连续19次没人中头奖了。

Officials said it would take several hours to know if there were any other winning tickets.

官方称还需要几个小时来确定是否还有其他中奖者。

The identity of the winners is not yet known.

目前中奖者身份尚未确定。

Thousands of people queued up outside shops across the US on Wednesday, hoping to defy the odds of 292.2 million to one.

本周三，整个美国成千上万的人在商店外排队购票，尽管此次中头奖的几率只有1/292200000，人们还是希望成为那个幸运儿。

California Lottery tweeted that the winning ticket in the state was sold at a 7-Eleven store in Chino Hills, a suburb east of Los Angeles.

加州彩票局发推特称，位于洛杉矶东郊奇诺山的一家“7-11”便利店售出了这张中奖彩票。

Television pictures showed a cheering crowd gathering at the shop after the result was announced.

当地电视台的画面显示，消息一经公布，这家“7-11”便利店便被欢呼的人群挤满。

The winners will share a prize of $1.586bn. They can collect their winnings in annual payments over 29 years, or opt to share a lump-sum payment of $930m.

中奖者将分享15.86亿美元的大奖。他们可以选择通过29年分期提取他们的奖金，也可以选择一起一次性领取9.3亿美奖金。

The government will also share in the big prize, however, levying a 39.6% federal income tax on the winners - and the payout will also be subject any taxes that the winners’ home states may impose.

当然，政府也将参与分享这笔奖金，中奖者将缴纳39.6%的联邦所得税。同时，中奖者所在州也有可能征收一定的所得税。

Follow the money

关于这笔钱

Is this really the biggest?

这真的是历史上金额最高的头奖吗？

The previous jackpot record was a March 2012 drawing of the US lottery Mega Millions which had a 656m dollars (457m pounds) prize shared by three winners. Spain’s El Gordo is the world’s biggest lottery in financial terms - its prize in 2015 totalled 2.24bn Euro(2.43bn dollars; 1.68 bn pounds). But as there is no single jackpot - the same series are printed in multiple tickets - anyone who has the numbers wins a share of the prize. In Europe, the largest lottery prizes have been lower than in the US, but the jackpots are given as a lump sum rather than as an annuity and most countries do not tax the winnings. The biggest European prize was won in July 2011 by a ticketholder in the UK. That person took home a lump sum of 260m dollars (161.7m pounds).

此前美国彩票最高头奖纪录为兆彩彩票2012年3月开出的6.56亿美元（4.57亿英镑），由三名中奖者分享。西班牙“大胖子”彩票有着世界上最大笔的总奖金金额-总计达到22.4亿欧元（24.3亿美元；16.8亿英镑）。但是它同时有多个头奖（将同一号码系列印刷到多张彩票中），每一个得到该号码系列的人都可以赢得一份奖金。在欧洲，最高的头奖金额要比美国的低，但是它通常是一次性领取而不是分期支付，同时大部分国家不会向中奖者征税。欧洲最高的头奖由一名英国彩票持有人在2011年7月获得。他一次性领取了2.6亿美元（1.617亿英镑）。

Where do Powerball profits go?

强力球彩票的利润流向了哪里？

Back to the participating states. For example, New Jersey has sold more than $50m in tickets during this current jackpot craze, and lottery officials said about $20m of that would return to the state. More than 15 states use the profits to fund education. However, schools aren’t expecting a huge windfall. California officials estimate the lottery money accounts for about 1% of the state’s education budget. In Wisconsin, the profits go towards lowering property taxes.

回到各个参与州。例如，新泽西州在这次彩票热潮中卖出了超过5千万美元，彩票机构官方称大约2千万美元将返回到新泽西。超过15个州利用这笔钱来资助教育。然而，学校并没有多期待这么一笔意外之财。加利福尼亚州官员估计彩票收入约占该州的教育预算的1%。

How did the jackpot get so big?

为什么头奖金额会这么高？

No-one has won the draw since 4 November. The prize is based on ticket sales so high jackpots usually create a snowball effect until a winning combination is picked. A new format introduced in October makes these massive jackpots more likely, meaning more records could be broken in future.

自从去年4月开始，还没有人中过头奖。因为奖金与彩票销量有关，所以高额头奖通常会产生滚雪球效应，直到有人选中了中奖号码组合。去年十月份的新规定使得大额头奖更容易产生，这也意味着未来将会有更多记录被打破。

Six of the 50 US states do not participate in the lottery, so some residents drive for hours to other states to buy tickets.

美国50个州中有6个州没有参与这场活动，所以这些州的一些居民都是开几个小时车去其他州买票。

Alabama, Mississippi and Utah cite religious reasons, while Alaska has said it would not be economical in such a sparsely populated state.

阿拉巴马州、密西西比州和犹他州称是因为宗教原因,而阿拉斯加表示,在这样一个人烟稀少的州进行这种活动是不划算的。

In Hawaii, proposed legislation to start participating fails consistently, and in Nevada the lottery is rejected because the state’s world-famous casinos prefer not to have competition.

在夏威夷，关于参与彩票的立法提议不一致，而内华达州以它们的赌场闻名于世，这些赌场显然不希望彩票来参与竞争。(声明：本文为爱语吧原创翻译，转载请注明来源，否则追究法律责任！)

完成阅读

来源:BBC 爱语吧作者:书未