A unique winning ticket for the record $2.04 billion Powerball lottery jackpot was sold in Altadena, California, lottery officials said Tuesday, making the lucky ticket holder the winner of the biggest lottery prize ever.
The ticket was sold at a Joe service center, the California Lottery said on Twitter. Results posted on Powerball.com similarly said there was a winner who matched all six numbers in California — the odds of which were 1 in 292.2 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.
The winning numbers, announced Tuesday morning after Monday’s drawing was delayed, were 10-33-41-47-56 and the Powerball was 10, according to the association.
And while you probably weren’t the jackpot winner, lotteries encourage players to check their tickets for a chance to win one of the other—albeit smaller—prizes: According to the Multi-State Lottery Association, more than 11, 2 million tickets won cash prizes totaling $98.1 million, including 22 tickets that won $1 million in prizes for matching the five white numbers but not the Powerball.
The jackpot was a record $1.9 billion but had grown to $2.04 billion by the time of the draw, the association said in a statement, “making it the largest lottery prize in the world” – just as organizers intended when they changed the odds in 2015.
The announcement came Tuesday after officials delayed the drawing Monday night due to what the Multistate Lottery Association called a “technical issue.”
The association initially said overnight that the delay was caused when a participating lottery took more time to process sales and play data, echoing an earlier statement by the California Lottery that said a lottery needed extra time to complete the necessary security protocols.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Minnesota Lottery announced that its sales verification system caused a delay in processing, causing the drawing to be postponed.
“The delay was necessary to confirm that the Powerball drawing could be conducted safely and accurately,” the Minnesota Lottery said in a statement. “The integrity of the process was never compromised.”
All 48 participating lotteries are required to submit their sales and games before winning numbers can be selected, the Multistate Lottery Association said in a statement. “Powerball has strict security requirements to protect the integrity of the game and remains committed to conducting a lottery that gives all players a fair chance to win,” the association said.
“Like the rest of America, Powerball is eager to hold its world record jackpot drawing,” the association said in a follow-up statement Tuesday morning before the drawing, “however, protecting the integrity of the drawing is paramount importance. even if it means further delay,” the statement said early Tuesday, urging players to hold on to their tickets.
According to the Multistate Lottery Association, Tuesday’s jackpot was the 41st drawing in the series, marking the sixth time the Powerball jackpot has been won in 2022. The last Powerball jackpot was won Aug. 3 in Pennsylvania.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever won was in January 2016, when three winners shared a prize advertised at $1.586 billion. Each took their share of the cash value, which totaled $983.5 million.
Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 PM ET.
Powerball is played by charging $2 per ticket and having players choose five white balls from the numbers 1 to 69 and one red Powerball from the numbers 1 to 26. If a player gets all six numbers correct, they win the huge jackpot.
The odds of winning the jackpot by matching all 5 numbers and the Powerball number are one in 292.2 million.
Before 2015, however, the white balls were numbered from 1 to 59 and the Powerball was from 1 to 35. The change means that players now have a better chance of winning small prizes but a worse chance of hitting the jackpot, making it more likely that the large number will grow to record sizes.
