Winners of Alaska spring guessing contest to split jackpot

Anchorage, Alaska (AP) – Organizers of Alaska’s favorite guessing contest say 42 winning tickets will split this year’s $267,444 jackpot. Nenana Ice Classic manager Cherrie Forness says tickets represent correct guesses on when the ice on the Tanana River moved. The ice went out at 1 p.m. Monday. For contest purposes, that means the official correct guess was 12 p.m. Alaska Standard Time. Each of the winning tickets is valued at $6,367.71. The amount pocketed is $4,584.75 after 28 percent is withheld for the Internal Revenue Service. Forness says some winning tickets represent pools of people, so individual winnings are smaller for them. Thousands of people pay $2.50 per guess. The winning time is determined when a cable attached to a tripod on the river ice trips a clock on shore.