Someone Just Got Rich: $2.04 Billion Powerball Jackpot Has a Winner

After months in which the Powerball lottery went without a winner for the top prize, it appears somebody has hit the big time.

A ticket matching all six numbers drawn Tuesday morning (10, 33, 41, 47, 56, and Powerball 10) was sold in Los Angeles County at a gas station in Altadena, an unincorporated area north of Pasadena. The official payout is a record-breaking $2.04 billion, although the one-time cash payment would be $997.6 million before taxes. The winner also has the option of receiving the full amount as an annuity paid over 29 years, but no one has taken that offer since 2014.

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Brushing aside those details, the California Lottery announced their first ever “billionaire.”

Monday night’s drawing at Florida Lottery’s Tallahassee studio was delayed nearly 10 hours and held on Tuesday morning. Powerball officials said it was because one of the participating 48 lotteries — 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — was “still processing its sales and play data.”

The jackpot — which has yet to be claimed by the winner — is the biggest in Powerball history, having increased dramatically since starting out at $20 million on Aug. 6. The game’s second-largest prize was $1.586 billion, split among three winners in 2016.

In California, the seller of a winning Powerball ticket also receives $1 million. By midday, a crowd of media and locals had descended on Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, where the owners made an appearance for the cameras.

All the players cursing their luck today can remind themselves that many lottery winners end up in debt or bankruptcy. But let’s be honest with ourselves — that’s just sour grapes.

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