STATE : Mysteriously Low $46.2-Million Lotto Jackpot Is Split by Three : $46.2-Million Jackpot Split in 3

The midweek Lotto jackpot that mysteriously fell about $4 million below the conservative minimum estimate expected by the California Lottery will be split three ways.

The winning 6-of-6 tickets for the $46.2-million jackpot in the Wednesday Lotto 6/49 drawing were purchased in Petaluma, Brentwood in Contra Costa County and Rialto, state lottery officials said.

There was speculation today but no solid answers on why sales lagged, causing the jackpot to fall below the predicted level for the first time in the history of the game that began in October, 1986, lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Walker said. Lottery officials had predicted a $50-million jackpot.

“It was a first. It was a very different sales pattern. . . . It never got to the fervor, the pace that we’ve experienced with bigger jackpots,” Walker said.

Sales were more than double normal, but the expected jackpot was nearly 10 times the normal size, she said. Speculation on the causes include its being tax preparation time and spring break, Walker said.

The holders of the winning tickets will each receive $15.4 million, paid out in equal annual installments of $617,153 after taxes over 20 years. The numbers were: 10, 39, 33, 36, 26, 3 and the bonus number, 22.

Seventeen tickets with five numbers plus the bonus number each were worth a $282,828 share of a $4.8-million consolation prize pool.