The biggest lottery prize in history has been won by a customer of Joe’s Service Center, in Altadena, California, according to lottery officials. The ticket is worth $2.04B or $2,040,000,000,000.00 if paid out over 30 years in installments or $997.6 Million in pretax cash if the lone ticket owner chooses a lump sum payment.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever before the current prize was won in January 2016. Three winners in different states picked the same numbers and split a prize advertised at $1.586 billion. The cash value of the prize was $983.5 million before taxes and it was split three ways equally.
According to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which administers Powerball in 45 US states, Peurto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia, the odds of winning by matching all six numbers (5 white and 1 red Powerball) are 1 in 292.2 million. The odds of a lone ticket matching all the numbers and not having to split the prize with another player are even higher thanks to a massive increase in ticket sales when the lottery goes big.
Even if you didn’t pop into Joe’s to buy a ticket or use a lottery messenger service like those found at World Casino Directory, it’s still important to check your numbers if you did buy a ticket because there were a lot of lower-tier prizes won as well.
Nearly Two Dozen Tickets Sold Worth $1 Million + One $2M
The numbers from Monday night’s draw were 10-33-41-47-56 and the Powerball was 10. Players who hold tickets with fewer matching numbers can still claim a total of $98.1 million in smaller prizes ranging from the $2 million a player in Florida can claim for spending $3 on Power Play instead of $2 on a ticket that matched 5/5 but no power ball. The multiplier drawn, as is usually the case was 2x. Power Play tickets pay all winners except the jackpot from 2x to 10x the prize.
Twenty-two tickets were sold in participating states that matched all five regular numbers but not the Powerball and they are a million dollars each. In total, 11.2 million tickets were sold since last Wednesday’s drawing that won cash prizes – the majority of them were most likely $2 winners – or $4 if the Power Play was added.
If it seems that you’ve been hearing about larger and larger prizes over the last few years, there’s a good reason for that. Lottery officials decided in 2015 to change the number of balls drawn which changed the odds giving players far better chances of winning smaller prizes but making it far more difficult to win the jackpot.
Huge jackpots and more small returns have helped increase ticket sales considerably since then because even non-players will fork out a couple of dollars for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like Monday and many regular players go into a frenzy buying tickets.
41 Drawings Since Last jackpot Won
The more tickets that are sold, the bigger the prize grows when it rolls over between draws. The Powerball jackpot was last won on August 3rd. It was reseeded at $20m on August 6th and went through 41 draws before it was won again – another Powerball record. With three drawings every week, the jackpot has been won for somewhere between $20m and over a billion dollars six times in 2022.
As of press time, the name of the winner is not known. Even if the ticket was thrown away in frustration when the announcement of the winning numbers was delayed it has already made at least one millionaire – the owner of the store that sold the ticket.
Joseph Chahayed is a Syrian immigrant who came to America in 1980. When he arrived at work on Tuesday morning he found California lottery officials waiting for him.
All 48 Powerball jurisdiction participants must submit their data before a drawing can be held and the Minnesota Lottery had a technical issue with its sales verification system preventing it from submitting its sales and plays which delayed the drawing overnight.
Source: A single winning ticket for the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot was sold in California, CNN, November 8, 2022
