The winning Powerball ticket worth $1.08 billion — the third largest in the game’s history — was sold in downtown Los Angeles at Las Palmitas Mini Market.
Ahead of Wednesday night’s drawing, ticket sales pushed the expected $1 billion drawing to $1.08 billion — making it the sixth largest winning in U.S. history, the Associated Press reported.
The winning numbers were white balls 7, 10, 11, 13, 24 and red Powerball 24. The winner has the option to receive the total jackpot paid out annually over 30 years or a lump-sum $558.1 million payment; both of these options are before taxes, CNN reported.
While $1.08 sounds like a lot of money, federal taxes could eat up as much as 37 percent of winnings, according to Forbes.
The owner of the ticket has yet to claim the prize, and has up to a year to do so. While some states allow lottery winners to keep their anonymity, California law requires the winner’s name to be released.
Nabor Herrera, owner of the market that sold the winning ticket, said he hopes the winner was one of his regular customers.
“Blessed, thank God someone won,” Herrera said. “We also get a little bit.”
Herrera, a father of four, is grinning ear to ear. As the retailer who sold the winning ticket, he will receive almost $1 million, according to Powerball rules in California.
He says he’ll take his family on a nice vacation.
Even though there may be just one winner, 36 tickets in 16 states matched all five white balls, making those ticket holders eligible for up to $1 million.
The odds of winning the Powerball are one in 292.2 million, building larger jackpots and enticing more people to buy tickets. Before Wednesday’s drawing, there were 38 consecutive drawings with no winners.
The last jackpot won was April 19 for $253 million.
Back in November, the largest Powerball jackpot was $2.04 billion with the winning ticket sold at a gas station 16 miles away from the mini market which sold the $1.08 billion winning ticket, KARE11 reported.
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