The odds of winning were one in 292,200,000.
One person in America has just landed the biggest lottery win in world history, scooping a jackpot of more than $2 billion.
The lucky American was the only person with a winning ticket, which they bought at Joe’s Service Centre in Altadena, California.
The US lottery official website showed a ticket holder in California had matched the winning numbers, hours after an early Tuesday drawing that had been marred by delays.
After picking the six numbers needed for victory, the winner is now waking up a ridiculous $2.04 billion (nearly €2.03 billion) richer.
The Multi-State Lottery Association said the odds of matching all five white balls and the red Powerball needed to claim the prize were one in 292.2 million.
The winning numbers ended up being 0-33-41-47-56 and the Powerball was 10. The Association said this was “the world’s largest lottery prize”.
Officials have not identified the winner of the prize, which was nearly $400m more than the previous record.
They can choose to receive the full prize, through an annuity over 29 years, or a lump sum of cash paid immediately.
According to The Guardian, winners more often opt for the lump sum, which for Tuesday’s jackpot was $997.6m.
Joe's Service Center earned a $1 Million bonus for selling this lucky ticket. Thank you players for continuing to support our mission and our local communities! #CALottery (2/2) pic.twitter.com/ovaTGZIlfB
— California Lottery (@calottery) November 8, 2022
All the winnings will be subject to taxes, meaning that the payout will be reduced by more than a third.
And the business owner who sold the winning ticket will be rewarded as well, picking up a bonus prize from Powerball of $1m.
The jackpot was meant to be drawn on Monday, however, there was a delay due to one participating lottery saying it “needed more time to process its sales and play data”.
The Association said the delay was necessary to ensure everything was in order.
“Powerball has stringent security requirements to protect the integrity of the game and remains committed to holding a drawing that gives all players a fair chance to win,” it said.
“Like the rest of America, Powerball is eager to hold its drawing for the world record jackpot, however, protecting the integrity of the draw is of utmost importance, even if that means a further delay.”
Millions of Americans had purchased tickets as the jackpot rose, and enough tickets ended up being sold to cover 62 percent of the 292.2m possible number combinations.
9News says the largest Powerball jackpot ever won before this was in January 2016 at $2.44 billion.
But on this occasion, the jackpot was won by three different winners, who split the sum.
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