By Todd Northrop

One Powerball lottery ticket sold in Wisconsin won the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history on Wednesday night.

The lucky numbers for the $768.4 million jackpot were 16, 20, 37, 44, and 62, with Powerball number 12. The Power Play multiplier was 3. The top prize surged from an estimated $750 million due to strong ticket sales.

The lump sum payout is $476.9 million.

The winning ticket was sold in New Berlin, a city of about 40,000 people roughly 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) southwest of Milwaukee. Lottery officials didn't immediately identify the retailer that sold the ticket for Wednesday night's drawing. The retailer will receive a $100,000 payout for selling the winning ticket.

"It's going to be a very green spring for our first Powerball jackpot winner of 2019," David Barden, Powerball Product Group chairman and New Mexico Lottery CEO, said in a statement. "A jackpot of this size can make many dreams come true — not just for the winner, but for all Lottery beneficiaries and the lucky state of Wisconsin."

The Powerball jackpot had grown since December, when a ticket sold in New York won a $298.3 million jackpot. The jackpot resets to $40 million for Saturday's drawing.

The odds of hitting Wednesday's grand prize — the largest lottery jackpot of 2019 — was 1 in about 292 million.  But Powerball says 1 in every 24.87 tickets wins a prize, starting at $4.

The only jackpots larger than Wednesday's include the world record $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot in January 2016 shared by winners in California, Florida, and Tennessee.

A woman from South Carolina anonymously claimed the second biggest prize of a $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot won last October. And in August 2017, a Massachusetts hospital worker's pipe dream came true when she won a $758.7 million Powerball prize. 

In the Wednesday Powerball drawing, 9 lucky players came within one number of winning the jackpot, matching the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 1 from Arizona, 2 from California, 1 from Indiana, 1 from Kansas, 1 from Minnesota, 1 from Missouri, 1 from New Jersey, and 1 from New York.

Two of the second-prize winners — the tickets sold in Kansas and Minnesota — purchased the Power Play option for an extra $1 per play, doubling their prize to $2 million.

The two California winners will take home an extra-sweet $2,939,782 each, as the California second-level prize pool has been building for 11 consecutive drawings without a winner. By law, California awards all prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning the prizes will change each drawing based on the number of tickets sold and the number of tickets that won at each prize level. If nobody wins the money allocated for a prize level, that money is carried over to the next drawing.

Also in the Wednesday drawing, 150 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $50,000.  Of those tickets, 20 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $150,000, and 13 of the tickets were sold in California, where the prize was worth $28,597 this drawing.

When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, a second-prize win is doubled and any other non-jackpot prize is multplied by the Power Play number drawn that evening. A full chart of payout amounts can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts page at Lottery Post.

Power Play is not available in California, because the fixed nature of the prize increase offered in Power Play is not compatible with California's pari-mutuel payouts.

The next Powerball drawing will take place Saturday night at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.

Powerball is played in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time.  Tickets cost $2 each.

Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com).  The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.

Top 25 United States lottery jackpots of all time

Wednesday's Powerball jackpot was the 3rd-largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States, and the 2nd-largest Powerball jackpot ever.

1. Powerball: $1.5864 billion, Jan. 13, 2016 - California, Florida, Tennessee
2. Mega Millions: $1.537 billion, Oct. 23, 2018 - South Carolina
3. Powerball: $768.4 million, Mar. 27, 2019 - Wisconsin
4. Powerball: $758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017 - Massachusetts
5. Powerball: $687.8 million, Oct. 27, 2018 - Iowa, New York
6. Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
7. Mega Millions: $636 million, Dec. 17, 2013 - California, Georgia
8. Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 - Florida
9. Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 - Arizona, Missouri
10. Powerball: $564.1 million, Feb. 11, 2015 - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
11. Powerball: $559.7 million, Jan. 6, 2018 - New Hampshire
12. Mega Millions: $543 million, Jul. 24, 2018 - California
13. Mega Millions: $536 million, Jul. 8, 2016 - Indiana
14. Mega Millions: $533 million, Mar. 30, 2018 - New Jersey
15. Powerball: $487 million, Jul. 30, 2016 - New Hampshire
16. Powerball: $456.7 million, Mar. 17, 2018 - Pennsylvania
17. Mega Millions: $451 million, Jan. 5, 2018 - Florida
18. Powerball: $448.4 million, Aug. 7, 2013 - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
19. Powerball: $447.8 million, Jun. 10, 2017 - California
20. Powerball: $435.3 million, Feb. 22, 2017 - Indiana
21. Powerball: $429.6 million, May 7, 2016 - New Jersey
22. Powerball: $425.3 million, Feb. 19, 2014 - California
23. Mega Millions: $425 million, Jan. 1, 2019 - New York
24. Powerball: $420.9 million, Nov. 26, 2016 - Tennessee
25. Mega Millions: $414 million, Mar. 18, 2014 - Florida, Maryland

The number of jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:

• Powerball: 16
• Mega Millions: 9

Top 25 cash value jackpots

The Wednesday Powerball jackpot ranks as the 4th-largest cash value in U.S. history.

1. Powerball: $983.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2016 ($1.5864 billion annuity) - California, Florida, Tennessee
2. Mega Millions: $877.8 million cash, Oct. 23, 2018 ($1.537 billion annuity) - South Carolina
3. Powerball: $480.5 million cash, Aug. 23, 2017 ($758.7 million annuity) - Massachusetts
4. Powerball: $476.9 million cash, Mar. 27, 2019 ($768.4 million annuity) - Wisconsin
5. Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
6. Powerball: $396.2 million cash, Oct. 27, 2018 ($687.8 million annuity) - Iowa, New York
7. Powerball: $384.7 million cash, Nov. 28, 2012 ($587.5 million annuity) - Arizona, Missouri
8. Powerball: $381.1 million cash, Feb. 11, 2015 ($564.1 million annuity) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
9. Mega Millions: $378 million cash, Jul. 8, 2016 ($536 million annuity) - Indiana
10. Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013 ($590.5 million annuity) - Florida
11. Powerball: $352 million cash, Jan. 6, 2018 ($559.7 million annuity) - New Hampshire
12. Mega Millions: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013 ($636 million annuity) - California, Georgia
13. Powerball: $336.8 million cash, Jul. 30, 2016 ($487 million annuity) - New Hampshire
14. Mega Millions: $324 million cash, Mar. 30, 2018 ($533 million annuity) - New Jersey
15. Mega Millions: $320.5 million cash, Jul. 24, 2018 ($543 million annuity) - California
16. Powerball: $284 million cash, May 7, 2016 ($429.6 million annuity) - New Jersey
17. Mega Millions: $281.9 million cash, Jan. 5, 2018 ($451 million annuity) - Florida
18. Powerball: $279.1 million cash, Jun. 10, 2017 ($447.8 million annuity) - California
19. Powerball: $273.9 million cash, Mar. 17, 2018 ($456.7 million annuity) - Pennsylvania
20. Powerball: $263.5 million cash, Feb. 22, 2017 ($435.3 million annuity) - Indiana
21. Powerball: $258.2 million cash, Aug. 7, 2013 ($448.4 million annuity) - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
22. Powerball: $254.7 million cash, Nov. 26, 2016 ($420.9 million annuity) - Tennessee
23. Mega Millions: $254.6 million cash, Jan. 1, 2019 ($425 million annuity) - New York
24. Mega Millions: $246.5 million cash, Aug. 11, 2017 ($393 million annuity) - Illinois
25. Mega Millions: $240 million cash, Jan. 4, 2011 ($380 million annuity) - Idaho, Washington

The number of jackpot cash values in the top 25, by lottery game, are:

• Powerball: 15
• Mega Millions: 10