Powerball ticket sold in California wins record $2.04 billion jackpot
Powerball announced Tuesday a single winning ticket was sold in California for a world-record $2.04 billion jackpot. The announcement came after a lengthy delay in revealing the winning numbers.
The winning numbers are 10, 33, 41, 47 and 56 with a Powerball of 10. California lottery officials said on Twitter the winning ticket was sold at a service center in the Los Angeles County community of Altadena.
The service center gets a $1 million bonus for selling the winning ticket, according to the California lottery. Owner Joseph Chahayed told CBS Los Angeles he's going to share the bonus with his family, which for now includes 10 grandchildren.
"My son is expecting baby in two months, so we're excited we can have a nice celebration for another baby," Chahayed told the station.
Carolyn Becker, a California lottery spokeswoman, said officials won't know who the winner is until they come forward.
"Congratulations, to the lucky ticket holder in California and the millions of other Powerball players who won other prizes in the drawing," Powerball Product Group Chair Drew Svitko said in a statement. "On behalf of participating lotteries, I would like to thank our players who joined us on this historic jackpot run. A portion of every Powerball ticket purchased will stay in your state to support your local communities."
Winners have the option of collecting the grand prize as an annuity spread over 29 years or a one-time cash payment. The cash option was $997.6 million, according to the statement.
Nearly two dozen tickets came close to the grand prize. According to Powerball, 22 tickets won $1 million by matching five numbers but not the Powerball. In Florida, one ticket won an extra $1 million because the player bought the Power Play option.
The odds of winning it all are 1 in 292.2 million.
The latest numbers were supposed to be revealed Monday night but the announcement was delayed until Tuesday morning. In a statement, Powerball officials said the drawing was delayed because one lottery wasn't able to "process its sales and play data."
The Minnesota lottery said its sales verification system caused the delay, CBS Minnesota reports. "The delay was necessary to confirm the Powerball drawing could be conducted securely and accurately," the lottery said in a statement. "At no time was the integrity of the process compromised."
Until Tuesday, the jackpot had eluded players since Aug. 3. It surpassed the previous world-record grand prize of $1.586 billion in the run-up to Saturday's drawing, which had a jackpot of $1.6 billion.
When no one won over the weekend, the jackpot swelled to an estimated $1.9 billion leading up to Monday night. Officials said Tuesday the grand prize for the latest drawing turned out to be $2.04 billion.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story misattributed a report from Powerball.net that there was was no jackpot winner to Powerball. The story has been corrected.
