Powerball ticket sold in California snags record $3.4 billion win

Madeline Copper, second from right, and her granddaughter, Lay-Lonnie, 5, stand in line to buy Powerball lottery tickets at the Wo Won Mini market in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles. Photo / AP

Someone who bought a Powerball ticket in California has won a record $3.4 billion (NZD) Powerball jackpot after more than three months without anyone hitting the top prize.

The winning numbers drawn Tuesday morning at the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee were: white balls 10, 33, 41, 47 and 56, and the red Powerball was 10.

The jackpot ticket was sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles. A voicemail left for Joe’s Service Center was not immediately returned.

The jackpot was by far the largest lottery prize ever won, topping the previous record US$1.586 billion prize won by three Powerball ticketholders in 2016. Only four previous jackpots have topped US$1 billion, but none of those are close to the current prize, which started at US$20 million back on August 6 and over three winless months has grown massive. No one has won the jackpot since August 3.

The jackpot was initially reported as an estimated US$1.9 billion on Monday, but the prize was increased to US$2.04 billion on Tuesday morning after updated calculations.

The Multi-State Lottery Association said Monday night’s scheduled drawing was delayed by nearly 10 hours until Tuesday because a participating lottery had issues processing sales.

The problems in holding a drawing Monday night were blamed on one participating lottery’s inability to process its sales data. After the lottery, which wasn’t identified, completed its pre-draw procedures, the drawing was able to go ahead.

“Protecting the integrity of the draw is of upmost importance, and we were able to do that during this historic drawing with the cooperation of all participating lotteries,” said Drew Svitko, the chairman of the Powerball Product Group and executive director of the Pennsylvania Lottery.

Terry Rich, a former director of the Iowa Lottery who also served on the Powerball board, said the delay was likely due to a two-part verification system of ticket sales that makes use of an outside vendor to ensure all is in order before the game’s numbers are drawn.

“Each state must verify through a dual process that all of the sales and dollars match before the Multi-State Lottery Association can do the draw,” said Rich, who headed the Iowa Lottery for 10 years and was president of the North American Lottery Association. “This is a state-by-state procedure, which separates the whole process and has been very effective.”

Rich said state lotteries deal with similar problems several times a year but the delays usually don’t attract much attention because the potential jackpots are far less than was up for grabs this week.

The winning numbers and recorded video of the drawing were posted to the Powerball’s YouTube channel.

The US$2.04 billion prize is for a winner who chooses an annuity, paid annually over 29 years. Nearly all winners instead opt for cash, which was valued at US$997.6 million.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

The game is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.