Winning Powerball ticket worth over $2 billion sold in California, state lottery says

One very, very lucky Powerball player in California just became an instant billionaire. Before taxes, that is.

The lone winning ticket of the Powerball’s record-smashing $2.04 billion jackpot was bought at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, Los Angeles County, the California Lottery announced Tuesday morning in social media posts.

Taken as a lump sum, the $2.04 billion win would be worth about $1.03 billion, according to lottery officials.

The winning numbers were 10, 33, 41, 47, 56, with a Powerball of 10.

Powerball officials announced those numbers early Tuesday morning, after a technical issue delayed Monday’s scheduled drawing, which had been set for 8 p.m. Pacific time.

More details about the huge win are forthcoming, officials with the California Lottery said.

After federal taxes, the $1.03 billion lump-sum total would work out to $635 million.

As a 30-year annuity, the winner would pull in a total of about $1.285 billion after federal taxes, according to a tax calculator on the Powerball website.

California is one of 15 states that do not tax lottery winnings.

The $2.04 billion grand prize shattered the previous record for biggest U.S. lottery jackpot, of $1.586 billion. The previous high mark, also Powerball, was split three ways by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.

Powerball in a tweet earlier Tuesday morning had said there were no jackpot winners in Monday’s drawing, but in an update to its website later in the morning confirmed there was in fact one winner of the $2,040,100,000 jackpot.

Twenty-two others in Monday’s drawing matched five numbers, but not the Powerball number, for $1 million apiece. Three of those 22 million-dollar winners were also sold in California, the state lottery said.

The jackpot hit after 40 consecutive drawings without a grand-prize winner. With the win, the jackpot has reset to $20 million for Wednesday’s drawing, according to Powerball.

Joe’s Service Center is a Mobil gas station and convenience store on West Woodbury Road at Fair Oaks Avenue.

Altadena is a town of about 45,000 people, just north of Pasadena and roughly 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

Big win came after big delay

Monday’s scheduled drawing, initially planned to be broadcast live from Tallahassee, Florida, was delayed by more than 10 hours. The winning numbers were ultimately uploaded to the Powerball website around 6 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday.

Powerball officials said the delay was caused by at least one state that struggled to meet the deadline to process ticket sales before the drawing.

Soon after the delay began, California Lottery officials said in a social media post that “a participating lottery” in another state needed more time to “complete the required security protocols.”

The Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the drawing, did not say how many or which states had the problems.

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