A single 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 largest lottery prize ever.
The California Lottery announced on Twitter that the ticket was purchased at a Joe’s Service Center. The Multi-State Lottery Association said that one winner in California matched all six numbers in the results released on Powerball.com, with odds of 1 in 292.2 million.
After Monday night’s drawing was postponed, the winning numbers were announced Tuesday morning. According to the association, the Powerball was 10 and the winning numbers were 10-33-41-47-56.
The organization said in a statement that the jackpot, which started at a record $1.9 billion, eventually reached $2.04 billion at the time of the drawing, “making it the world’s largest lottery prize,” as planned by the lottery’s organizers when they altered the odds in 2015.
As a matter of fact, the prize was so big that California lottery authorities lacked the necessary signage. At the petrol station northeast of Los Angeles where the winning ticket was purchased, they glued a “B” on signs that said “Millionaire made here” so they would instead read “Billionaire made here.”
A spokesperson for the California lottery, Carolyn Becker, said the winner has not yet come forward and added, “Somebody is holding on to a very important piece of paper this morning.”
The ticket did, however, make one millionaire: Joseph Chahayed, the owner of the gas station, was awarded his own $1 million for being the retailer who sold the winning ticket.
“They said, ‘Congratulations, your station sent a winner,’” he said, adding he hoped the winner lived in the neighborhood. The grandfather of 11 also said he was happy the lottery benefited California schools.
This Powerball jackpot grew over three winless months, starting at $20 million on August 6.
The prize’s worth, if the winner chooses a lump sum cash payout, is $997.6 million. Other than that, the winner would have to decide on annuity payouts spread out over 29 years in order to get the $2 billion prize.
