Second-largest Powerball jackpot in history of $1.726 billion stays in California

It seemed that we could be facing a new record, as in recent weeks the Powerball jackpot grew steadily draw after draw without anyone being able to take the coveted prize. Thus, on Wednesday, October 11, the draw was reached with a first prize valued at 1,725 million dollars, positioning it as the second largest prize ever drawn in the history of Powerball, only surpassed by the jackpot of 2,040 million dollars in November 2022.

However, this time there was a winner, who finally took home a prize of $1.762 billion when the official figure was announced after the drawing. This winner bought his ticket at the Midway Market & Liquor store in Frazier Park, a town in Kern County, California. More information about the winner is still unknown, as he has not yet gone to the authorities to claim his prize.

The winning numbers of the night were: 22, 24, 40, 52, 64 and Powerball 10.

Thus, the second largest lottery prize in the world once again stays in California. Along with this new record jackpot, the State of California can boast of having distributed the 4 largest prizes in Powerball history: The record jackpot of $2.04 billion in November 2022; one of the winning tickets of the $1.58 billion jackpot in January 2016; and the $1.08 billion jackpot in July 2023.

The store where the winning ticket was sold will receive a $1 million prize as compensation. According to one of the store's owners, last Wednesday's win "is one of the most exciting things that has ever happened in Frazier Park," a small community of no more than 2,600 residents about 75km north of Los Angeles.

Although they don't yet know who the winner might be, the owners hope it will be one of their regular customers, most of them retirees who live in the area. Being far from the freeway, they indicate that it is rare for other cars to pass by the store as they would have to take a major detour. Therefore, in the small community, where almost everyone knows each other, they are expectant to know the identity of the winner. The odds of winning were 1 in more than 292 million, so it will undoubtedly be an event to remember in the community's memory.

According to the laws of the state of California, although the normal deadline to purchase a lottery prize is 3 months, in the case of jackpots such as the Powerball jackpot the deadline is extended up to 1 year after the date of the drawing. Therefore, the winner will still have enough time to claim his prize. Of course, California is one of the states that require the winner's identity to be made public in order to collect the prize, so sooner or later we will have more news about the lucky winner.

Once you decide to collect your prize, you will have to choose whether to do it in a lump sum or in annuities. In the case of choosing annuities, you will be entitled to collect the full amount of the prize minus the corresponding taxes, but in multiple annual payments. If you choose a lump sum, more than 55% of the prize amount will be deducted for lottery administration, so you will ultimately be able to take a lump sum payment of approximately $774.1, after which federal and state taxes will be deducted. In the case of California, only federal taxes are applied to lottery prizes, so no additional state taxes will be applied.

For the next Powerball drawing, to be held on Saturday at 23hr (New York time), the prize will start again at $20 million.