Powerball: Winning ticket for $1.08 billion jackpot sold in California

After three months, there is finally a Powerball jackpot winner. One ticket in California matched all five white balls and the red Powerball number in Wednesday’s drawing, and the winner will claim a prize estimated at $1.08 billion.

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The winning numbers on Wednesday were 7-10-11-13-24 and the red Powerball was 24. The multiplier was 2X.

Update 12:30 a.m. EDT July 20: One ticket sold in California matched all five white numbers and the red Powerball, making someone a billionaire, according to the Powerball website.

There had been 38 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner. The last jackpot was won on April 19, 2023. Wednesday’s drawing was worth an estimated $1.08 billion, the third-largest jackpot in Powerball’s 31-year history.

According to the California Lottery website, the winning ticket was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market in Los Angeles.

Solo tickets sold in Florida, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island were worth $2 million, as the winners matched five numbers for $1 million and used the Power Play option to double their earnings.

Wednesday night’s drawing also produced 36 new millionaires, with seven tickets matching five numbers sold in California, five in New York, four in Florida and Texas, three in Massachusetts, two in Maryland and New Jersey, and one each in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

The Powerball jackpot now resets to $20 million. The next drawing is Saturday.

If you did not win the Powerball, there is still a chance for big riches, as the Mega Millions drawing on Friday will be worth an estimated $720 million.

Original report: The jackpot is also the seventh-largest in U.S. lottery history.

Powerball’s top prize was last hit in the April 19, 2023, drawing, lottery officials said. That is when a winning ticket in Ohio was worth $252.6 million.

Since then, there have been 38 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner.

If a player wins Wednesday’s jackpot, they will have the choice between an annuity worth an estimated $1 billion or a lump sum payment estimated at $516.8 million. If the winner chooses the annuity option, they will receive one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year.

Both options are before applicable taxes are deducted.

The next drawing is Saturday.

Monday’s drawing produced more than 2.8 million winning tickets nationwide, with lower-tier cash prizes worth a total of $41.7 million, lottery officials said.

Five tickets, sold in Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New York and Pennsylvania, matched all five white balls on Monday night and won $1 million each. Three tickets, one each in Arkansas, Georgia and Texas, matched all five white balls and doubled their amounts to $2 million by including the Power Play option on their tickets, lottery officials said.

“This has turned into a historic jackpot run; this is only the third time in Powerball’s 31-year history that a jackpot has reached the billion-dollar threshold,” Drew Svitko, Powerball Product Group Chair and executive director for the Pennsylvania Lottery, said in a statement. “During this exciting time, we would like to remind our players to play responsibly. It only takes one ticket to win this massive jackpot or any of Powerball’s other cash prizes. If you win the jackpot, sign your ticket, put it somewhere very safe, and reach out to your local lottery. Your lottery is always your best resource for information on how to claim a prize.”

Here are the 10 largest Powerball jackpots, according to Powerball.com:

• $2.04 billion – Nov. 7, 2022 (One ticket from California)
• $1.586 billion – Jan. 13, 2016 (Three tickets from California, Florida and Tennessee)
• $1 billion (estimated) – July 19, 2023, drawing
• $768.4 million – March 27, 2019 (One ticket from Wisconsin)
• $758.7 million – Aug. 23, 2017 (One ticket from Massachusetts)
• $754.6 million – Feb. 6, 2023 (One ticket from Washington
• $731.1 million – Jan. 20, 2021 (One ticket from Maryland)
• $699.8 million – Oct. 4, 2021 (One ticket from California)
• $687.8 million – Oct. 27, 2018 (Two tickets from Iowa and New York)
• $632.6 million – Jan. 5, 2022 (One ticket from Florida)

Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. EDT.