Topeka ? The largest jackpot in the history of the Powerball multistate lottery game paid off for the state as it continues to struggle with financial problems.

The prize, $314.9 million, caused a spike in ticket sales in Kansas. The Kansas Lottery expects those sales to be from $4 million to $5 million more than normal compared to the past month, Ed Van Petten, the lottery’s executive director, said Thursday.

The state receives 30 percent of lottery proceeds, meaning it could receive an extra $1.5 million from the past month’s Powerball sales. Most of the money finances economic development programs.

A 55-year-old contractor from West Virginia who won Wednesday’s prize in the multistate lottery opted to take a $170 million lump sum, rather than payments totaling $314.9 million over 30 years.

Van Petten said Kansans typically bought between $400,000 and $500,000 for each Powerball drawing. But sales grow with the size of the jackpot.

Sales ballooned in August 2001, when the jackpot reached $294.8 million. Van Petten said that jackpot generated between $7 million and $8 million in extra sales.

Van Petten said that because of that prize, Powerball sales for all the state’s 2002 fiscal year, which ended June 30, were $53.7 million.