One winner claims all of Powerball’s record-breaking $2.04 billion jackpot
One lucky person from California became the lone winner of Powerball’s record-breaking $2.04 billion jackpot Tuesday, hours after Monday night’s scheduled drawing was delayed.
The winning ticket was sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena in Los Angeles County, according to the California Lottery.
“California Lottery makes its FIRST EVER Billionaire!” the agency said in a tweet. “We are so excited and we just can’t hide it.”
The winning numbers are 10-33-41-47-56 and the Powerball was 10. They were announced through the Powerball website and a recorded video shared on the lottery’s YouTube page Tuesday morning instead of during a nationwide broadcast scheduled for Monday night, when the pot stood at an estimated $1.9 billion. The prize climbed to the whopping $2.04 billion Tuesday after calculations were updated.
The winner will have to choose between two different payment options. If they select an annuity, they would receive the estimated $2.04 billion payout spread out over the course of 29 years. But nearly all winners instead go for the cash lump sum, which was valued at $997.6 million.
The drawing Tuesday came after a 10-hour delay, triggered by an issue with Minnesota’s sales verification system, which relies on an outside vendor to ensure all is in order before the game’s numbers are drawn. The winning numbers were supposed to be announced Monday just before 11 p.m. Amid the lengthy wait, the Multi-State Lottery Association said officials were forced to put the announcement on hold while they waited for the lottery location to process its sale and play data.
“The delay was necessary to confirm the Powerball drawing could be conducted securely and accurately,” the Minnesota Lottery said in a statement. “At no time was the integrity of the process compromised.”
Besides the big California winner, the state also revealed that another three tickets there matched five numbers, missing just the Powerball, in Gardena, Beaumont and San Francisco, each worth $1 million. One person in Florida nabbed a $2 million prize while 22 people across several states — Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and South Carolina — nabbed $1 million.
The jackpot, then worth just $20 million, was first put up for grabs Aug. 6. — but after three months without a winner, the prize exploded in value. Before Tuesday’s announcement, no one had won the jackpot since Aug. 3.
The record-breaking prize marks only the third time ever in the U.S. that winnings have surpassed $1.5 billion. It happened most recently in 2016, when the prize stood at a grand total of $1.586 billion. It was ultimately split between three people.
With News Wire Services
