California Lottery reveals identity of $1.7 billion Powerball winner

Tony Kurzweil
·2 min read

California Lottery officials on Friday revealed the winner of last year’s $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot, the second largest ever.

Theodorus Struyck represents a group of winners who bought the prized ticket from Midway Market in the Frazier Park community of Kern County in October, a news release stated.

Midway Market – a family-owned business for 30 years – received a $1 million bonus check for selling the ticket.

“That’s the most exciting news ever (to) happen to Frazier Park,” said store co-owner Nidal Khalil.

Store co-owner Nidal Khalil, center, smiles with son Jonathan Khalil, left, and nephew Chris Khalil, right, after putting on T-shirts at the Midway Market & Liquor store, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Frazier Park, Calif., where a winning Powerball lottery ticket was sold. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The jackpot win came after 35 missed drawings in that Powerball sequence, lottery officials stated in a news release.

“Announcing big wins like this gives all of our players the chance to hope and dream that they could be next,” said California Lottery Director Harjinder K. Shergill Chima.

Struyck is not the first to recently win a billion-dollar jackpot in California.

Less than a year ago, a $1 billion Powerball ticket was purchased in Los Angeles from Las Palmitas Mini Market.

That jackpot winner, who hasn’t been identified yet, was joined by seven other lucky Californians who matched five out of six numbers in the July 19 drawing and each went home $448,750 richer.

In November of 2022, Edwin Castro of Altadena struck it rich on a $2.04 billion Powerball ticket – the largest lottery prize in U.S. history. That famous ticket was sold at Joe’s Service Center, meaning owner Joe Chahayed also cashed in for a million bucks.

California Lottery officials present Joe Chahayed, the owner of Joe's Service Center, with a $1 million check for selling the jackpot-winning Powerball ticket on Nov. 8, 2022. (KTLA)
California Lottery officials present Joe Chahayed, the owner of Joe's Service Center, with a $1 million check for selling the jackpot-winning Powerball ticket on Nov. 8, 2022. (KTLA)

“There’s no one else that deserves it more than this man,” one of Chahayed’s sons said about his father.

Meanwhile, players are lining up across the state for a chance at two jackpots currently approaching the billion-dollar mark.

The next Powerball draw is on Saturday. The jackpot is currently estimated at $600 million, according to the California Lottery’s website. Similarly, the Mega Millions prize just increased to an estimated $815 million for Friday night’s drawing.

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