Record $2.04 billion Powerball lottery jackpot lands in California
The winning ticket was sold in Altadena, California. The jackpot rose from $1.9 billion to $2.04 billion after a technical issue caused a delay to the drawing.
California has a new billionaire. It was announced on Tuesday that one lucky winner scooped the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot - the biggest every lottery payout in history, dwarfing the previous record payout of $1.58 billion claimed by three winners in January 2016 with all three banking $983.5 million in prize money.
Tuesday’s draw was delayed by technical issues processing sales and initially, it was believed that the Powerball lottery would be rolled over for another day. During those few hours, the jackpot rose from $1.9 billion to $2.04 billion. The winning numbers are: 10, 33, 41, 47 and 56, with a Powerball of 10.
Organisers confirmed that the winning ticket was sold at a Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California. The odds of matching all six numbers are 1 in 292 million.
The lucky winner won’t receive all of the bumper $2,040,100,000 payout - the total amount will be subject to 24% federal tax plus additional taxes. However, they will be exempt from paying state tax on the windfall as California is one of eight states where a state tax on lottery winnings doesn’t exist.
Apart from the jackpot winner, there were 11,206,807 winners of lower cash prizes. The multi-state Lottery Asssociation is urging other players to double check their tickets to see if they are among the prize winners The new Powerball lottery will commence on Wednesday 9 November with a new jackpot - $20 million.