Winners of Alaska spring guessing contest to split jackpot

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Organizers of Alaska’s favourite guessing contest say 42 winning tickets will split this year’s $267,444 jackpot.

Nenana Ice Classic manager Cherrie Forness (SHER’-ee for-NESS’) says tickets represent correct guesses on when the ice on the Tanana (TA’-nan-nah) 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 per cent 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.