6th-largest lottery jackpot in history
By Todd Northrop
For the second time in less than a year, someone in California won a lottery jackpot worth more than $1 billion.
After a run of 36 drawings without a jackpot winner, the 37th drawing of the multi-state Powerball game produced a single $1.0798 billion winner last night when one lottery ticket sold in California matched all five numbers plus the Powerball.
The whopping jackpot is the sixth-largest the world has ever seen, and the third-largest in Powerball game history.
The winner of the unimaginable haul will choose between being paid $1.0798 billion in 30 annually-increasing payments over 29 years or the lump-sum cash value of $558.1 million.
According to USA Mega's Powerball Jackpot Analysis, after all taxes are paid, the winner either will receive $681.4 million by the end of 29 years, or $351.6 million in cash all at once. California does not impose a state tax on lottery prizes.
The winning ticket was sold at the Las Palmitas Mini Market in downtown Los Angeles, according to the California Lottery.
California has been selling Powerball tickets since Apr. 8, 2013. It is the 13th Powerball jackpot won or shared in the state of California.
The Powerball winning numbers for Wednesday, July 19, 2023, were 7, 10, 11, 13, and 24, with Powerball number 24. The Power Play number was 2.
It's hard to imagine the winner getting much sleep Wednesday night, as they try to process winning such an unimaginably huge lottery jackpot awarded to a single ticket — the one they're holding in their hand.
Millions of lottery players in the USA and around the world are wondering what they are planning to do with all that loot.
What is the first thing you would do?
The public will eventually find out the identity of the winner, as California does not have privacy laws that allow a winner to claim a lottery jackpot anonymously. At the very least, the winner's name and home town are released by the Lottery.
Lottery Post maintains a list of every state's anonymity policies for lottery winners, and Lottery Post published a comprehensive video presentation about each state's anonymity laws.
Fortunately, even if you didn't win the jackpot, the Powerball game still offers another 8 ways to win lower-tier prizes.
In addition to the jackpot winner, 39 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 7 from California, 1 from Connecticut, 5 from Florida, 1 from Illinois, 1 from Indiana, 1 from Kentucky, 2 from Maryland, 3 from Massachusetts, 1 from Missouri, 1 from New Hampshire, 2 from New Jersey, 5 from New York, 1 from Ohio, 1 from Pennsylvania, 1 from Rhode Island, 4 from Texas, 1 from West Virginia, and 1 from Wisconsin.
Three of the second prize-winning tickets — one of the tickets sold in Florida as well as those sold in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island — were purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1, increasing their prize to $2 million. The seven California second prize winners will each claim a prize of $448,750 because unlike all the other Powerball states, California awards all prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning the prizes will change each drawing based on the number of tickets sold and the number of tickets that won at each prize level.
257 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $50,000. Of those tickets, 62 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $100,000, and 31 were sold in California, where the prize was $10,351 this drawing.
When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, a second-prize win is doubled and any other non-jackpot prize is multplied by the Power Play number drawn that evening. A complete list of prizes available for matching various numbers can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts and the Powerball Double Play Prize Payouts pages at Lottery Post.
Power Play is not available in California, because the fixed nature of the prize increase offered in Power Play is not compatible with California's pari-mutuel payouts.
In total, more than 4.8 million tickets won prizes across the game's nine prize tiers in Wednesday's drawing. Apart from the jackpot, there were $80.3 million in prizes awarded last night.
The Wednesday Double Play drawing results were 13, 15, 28, 43, and 57, with Powerball number 25. Double Play is a game option currently available in 14 states that lets you play your numbers in a second drawing for $1 per play, with a chance to win up to $10 million in cash. See How to Play Powerball at USA Mega for more information about Double Play.
The record-holder for the world's largest lottery jackpot was a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot in Nov. 2022, won by a single ticket sold in California. The winner was Edwin Castro, who released only the minimal information publicly required, but still managed to get into the news by buying a house or two, and for being the target of a somewhat dubious lawsuit.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
Had no one matched all of the numbers drawn lottery officials said the next jackpot would have reached $1.2 billion.
With the jackpot being won Wednesday, the next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate is reset to its starting point of $20 million.
Powerball is played in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
Top 25 United States lottery jackpots of all time
Wednesay's $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot stands as the sixth-largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States — and the world.
- Powerball: $2.0401 billion, Nov. 7, 2022 (40 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
- Powerball: $1.5864 billion, Jan. 13, 2016 (19 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California, Florida, Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $1.537 billion, Oct. 23, 2018 (25 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $1.348 billion, Jan. 13, 2023 (25 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Maine
- Mega Millions: $1.337 billion, Jul. 29, 2022 (29 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Illinois
- Powerball: $1.0798 billion, Jul. 19, 2023 (38 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
- Mega Millions: $1.05 billion, Jan. 22, 2021 (36 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Michigan
- Powerball: $768.4 million, Mar. 27, 2019 (25 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Wisconsin
- Powerball: $758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Massachusetts
- Powerball: $754.6 million, Feb. 6, 2023 (33 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Washington
- Powerball: $731.1 million, Jan. 20, 2021 (35 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Maryland
- Mega Millions: $720 million, Jul. 21, 2023 (26 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Powerball: $699.8 million, Oct. 4, 2021 (40 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
- Powerball: $687.8 million, Oct. 27, 2018 (21 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Iowa, New York
- Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 (18 rollovers, starting at $12 million) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Mega Millions: $648 million, Dec. 17, 2013 (21 rollovers, starting at $12 million) - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $632.6 million, Jan 5, 2022 (39 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California, Wisconsin
- Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 (13 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Florida
- Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 (15 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $564.1 million, Feb. 11, 2015 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
- Powerball: $559.7 million, Jan. 6, 2018 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - New Hampshire
- Mega Millions: $543 million, Jul. 24, 2018 (22 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California
- Mega Millions: $536 million, Jul. 8, 2016 (34 rollovers, starting at $15 million) - Indiana
- Mega Millions: $533 million, Mar. 30, 2018 (23 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $522 million, Jun. 7, 2019 (24 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California
For those keeping score, the number of jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 14
- Mega Millions: 11
Top 25 cash value jackpots
The Wednesday Powerball jackpot ranks as the 7th-largest cash value in world history.
- Powerball: $997.6 million cash, Nov. 7, 2022 ($2.0401 billion annuity) - California
- Powerball: $983.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2016 ($1.5864 billion annuity) - California, Florida, Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $877.8 million cash, Oct. 23, 2018 ($1.537 billion annuity) - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $780.5 million cash, Jul. 29, 2022 ($1.337 billion annuity) - Illinois
- Mega Millions: $776.6 million cash, Jan. 22, 2021 ($1.05 billion annuity) - Michigan
- Mega Millions: $723.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2023 ($1.348 billion annuity) - Maine
- Powerball: $558.1 million cash, Jul. 19, 2023 ($1.0798 billion annuity) - California
- Powerball: $546.8 million cash, Jan. 20, 2021 ($731.1 million annuity) - Maryland
- Powerball: $496 million cash, Oct. 4, 2021 ($699.8 million annuity) - California
- Powerball: $480.5 million cash, Aug. 23, 2017 ($758.7 million annuity) - Massachusetts
- Powerball: $477 million cash, Mar. 27, 2019 ($768.4 million annuity) - Wisconsin
- Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Powerball: $450.2 million cash, Jan. 5, 2022 ($632.6 million annuity) - California, Wisconsin
- Powerball: $407.2 million cash, Feb. 6, 2023 ($754.6 million annuity) - Washington
- Powerball: $396.2 million cash, Oct. 27, 2018 ($687.8 million annuity) - Iowa, New York
- Powerball: $384.7 million cash, Nov. 28, 2012 ($587.5 million annuity) - Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $381.1 million cash, Feb. 11, 2015 ($564.1 million annuity) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
- Mega Millions: $378 million cash, Jul. 8, 2016 ($536 million annuity) - Indiana
- Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013 ($590.5 million annuity) - Florida
- Mega Millions: $369.6 million cash, Jul. 21, 2023 ($720 million annuity) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Powerball: $352 million cash, Jan. 6, 2018 ($559.7 million annuity) - New Hampshire
- Mega Millions: $349.3 million cash, May 21, 2021 ($516 million annuity) - Pennsylvania
- Mega Millions: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013 ($648 million annuity) - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $341.7 million cash, Jul. 30, 2016 ($487 million annuity) - New Hampshire
- Mega Millions: $340 million cash, Jun. 7, 2019 ($522 million annuity) - California
The number of cash value jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 15
- Mega Millions: 10
Now that the jackpot is reset to $20 million will you play Saturday or wait for it to build up to a certain level before you play again? I will play Saturday.
Oh for crap sake! A billion dollar jackpot and nobody in my state won second prize!
Wake me up in October after another 30 something rolls.
Michigan should change their slogan to "Nobody is going to win so why play?"
I honestly don't know if I'll ever play again. I didn't win anything on this entire run so I guess I set my buy in point at $560 Million Cash if I ever play this version of PB again.
Congrats to the winner(s)
I had a feeling it would be won in Los Angeles, California. ☀️
I will wait to it surpass $40 million. The lottery officials never put it back at $40 million but still charge us $2. I'll let others build it up and then I'll start my purchasing. It's so hard to hit anyway. Plus always California 🤦🏾♂️
You doing better than us in a Ohio. You guys had several huge winners through the years from the wolverine state including the 1.03 billion dollar jackpot claim by 4 men in a trust so I'm confused on your statement. By the way I'm sick of loosing against you guys. If Ryan day loses this year for a 3 straight year I'm going to have the president and governor of Ohio to remove him immediately from his job. We not use to loosing against wolverines around here. I'm use to the Jim Tressel and Urban Myer dominance over the years 🤣🤣🤷🏾♂️
Quite often someone hits it for $20M right after the BIG Win!
It does not surprise me that someone from California won it, considering it has more lottery vending machines in more places than anywhere else in the country. This means probably every mini mart, grocery store, Walmart, gas station and corner store has a lottery vending machine. In my state, my local Walmart just got its first lottery vending machine about a year ago.
Very very very fishy that California listed 8 times on the article as huge jackpot winners and that doesn't even include the one's under $400 million that listed on MM and PB websites over last 10 years only state comes in second is Florida with 2 and New Jersey 🤔 By the way don't give me that dumb crap about more people in that state so more people play because I can give you at least 12 states of 44 that that's included that has not even won yet. Lottery post to be so random so by now all 44 states should of had won the jackpot in past 25 plus years if so random. I'm just saying 🤷🏾♂️
$300 million is my level for MM and PB. I already have my MM ticket. I'll take a shot at Hoosier Lotto and Illinois Lotto later today.
Once I saw the numbers, I knew it was over for the PB run. Birthday numbers. Look at all of the second place winners.
Congratulations to the California jackpot winner, the 39 one million dollar winners and the 257 fifty thousand dollar winners. The winning jackpot number are: 7-10-11-13-24-24 which are considered birthday number.
I don't think we have any in South Carolina.
California again? 🤦🏻♂️
I want a probe launched as to why California hits most of the major PowerBall Jackpots.
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