[ti:Largest Single US Lottery Payout Gives Winner $759 Million] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]A very lucky person has won the largest single lottery payout [00:06.48]in United States history - $758.7 million. [00:14.74]A 53-year-old hospital worker from Massachusetts, Mavis Wanczyk, [00:21.99]came forward Thursday to claim her prize in the Powerball drawing. [00:29.03]She said she had quit her job and wanted to take some time to relax. [00:36.29]Lottery officials say she chose to take a single payment [00:42.40]of $480 million, or $336 million after taxes. [00:51.55]Winners can also choose to receive the jackpot in 30 payments over 29 years. [00:59.79]The winning numbers were drawn Wednesday night in the Powerball, [01:05.06]which is played in most U.S. states. [01:09.40]The matching numbers were 6, 7, 16, 23 and 26, [01:17.84]with the Powerball number 4. [01:20.96]Wanczyk bought her ticket Wednesday at a store in a small Massachusetts town. [01:27.76]She said for some of the winning numbers, she chose birthdays of people she knows. [01:35.46]The jackpot was the second-largest overall lottery prize in U.S. history. [01:44.36]The biggest jackpot ever was a $1.6 billion Powerball payout in 2016. [01:54.52]But that prize was shared among three winners. [01:59.92]Lottery officials reported the odds of winning Wednesday's Powerball [02:06.80]were one in 292.2 million. [02:13.08]The Powerball lottery is held twice a week, with numbers drawn from two containers. [02:20.88]One container holds 69 numbered balls, from which five are drawn. [02:28.16]Another ball – known as the Powerball - is selected from the other container. [02:35.04]To win the full jackpot, a person must match all six numbers. [02:42.16]The jackpot continues to grow each time there is no top prize winner. [02:49.34]The last time someone matched all six Powerball numbers was June 10, [02:55.63]when a California man won $447.8 million. [03:03.29]The jackpots have been growing larger because there are fewer big winners. [03:10.04]This is because lottery officials have made changes to the game [03:14.92]that make the odds of winning more difficult, The Washington Post reports. [03:21.26]Two years ago, the chances of winning were about 1 in 175 million. [03:29.88]This compares to the latest drawing's odds of one in 292.2 million. [03:39.36]This resulted from a change to the game in October 2015 [03:44.96], when Powerball increased the number of balls [03:48.29]from 59 to 69, according to the newspaper. [03:54.84]Experts say the bigger the jackpot gets, [03:58.46]the amount of media coverage also increases, [04:02.08]driving ticket sales higher and higher. [04:07.08]Several studies have shown that lower-income Americans [04:11.68]buy most of the lottery tickets. [04:15.72]But the huge lottery payoffs do not only benefit the winners. [04:21.48]U.S. states participating in lotteries also get a percentage of revenue, [04:28.64]amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. [04:33.16]Some states put the lottery earnings in a general state fund, [04:38.92]which can be used for many things. [04:42.08]But many others set the money aside for specific purposes [04:47.56]- such as education, environmental programs or anti-crime efforts. [04:55.44]Some states even earn more money from the lottery [04:59.56]than from income taxes on companies, according to Reuters news agency. [05:05.76]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM