Powerball players had a chance to hit the $1 billion jackpot on Wednesday night's July 19 drawing.
The lucky winning numbers were 7, 10, 11, 13 and 24 and the red Powerball was 24. Winners have the choice between an annuitized prize worth an estimated $1 billion or a lump sum payment estimated at $516.8 million. Players had a 1 in 292.2 million chance of being the winner.
One lucky person in California did win the incredible jackpot sum last night. The winning ticket for $1.08 billion was sold at the Las Palmitas Mini Market in downtown Los Angeles. The winner can either take the annuity of $1.08 billion, or a lump sum payment of $558.1 million.
36 other players bought a ticket that matched all five white balls, but not the red Powerball, earning them a $1 million payout. Of those, three further lucky players had purchased the additional Power Play, meaning their prize is doubled to $2 million.
Wednesday night's July 19 drawing is the third time the Powerball prize has reached the billion dollar mark and is the third largest Powerball jackpot behind the record $2.04 billion prize won last year and the $1.586 billion prize won in 2016.
The lottery winnings rose after Monday night's $900 million drawing had no big winners, making it the 38 consecutive drawing without one. The last jackpot was hit on April 19 by a ticket in Ohio that scored $252.6 million.
"This has turned into a historic jackpot run; this is only the third time in Powerball's 31-year history that a jackpot has reached the billion-dollar threshold," Drew Svitko, Powerball Product Group Chair and Pennsylvania Lottery Executive Director, said in a Tuesday press release.
"During this exciting time, we would like to remind our players to play responsibly," Svitko said. "It only takes one ticket to win this massive jackpot or any of Powerball's other cash prizes. If you win the jackpot, sign your ticket, put it somewhere very safe, and reach out to your local lottery. Your lottery is always your best resource for information on how to claim a prize."
Smaller prizes are also offered if you only get half or fewer of your numbers called.
Tickets cost $2 to play and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee.
Even though the jackpot was not hit on Monday, the drawing produced more than 2.8 million winning tickets nationwide, with lower-tier cash prices totaling a combined $41.7 million.
Five of the tickets, from Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New York and Pennsylvania, matched all five white balls to win $1 million prizes. There were also three tickets from Arkansas, Georgia and Texas that had their $1 million winnings bumped up to $2 million with the Power Play option.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
