Second-largest lottery jackpot in history finally claimed
Updated with additional information about jackpot winners
By Kate Northrop
Today, the California Lottery announced the winners of a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot, the second-largest lottery jackpot in history.
One ticket in a small California town won the $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot from the drawing on Oct. 11, 2023, and now we know who it belongs to.
Theodorus Struyck was revealed by the California Lottery as the representative for the group of winners who bought that fateful ticket at Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park. Struyck was one of the group members who hit the jackpot, Lottery Deputy Director Public Affairs and Communications Carolyn Becker told Lottery Post.
On Wednesday, March 27, the Lottery relayed to Lottery Post that Struyck was the one to purchase the winning ticket on behalf of the group of winners, of which there are 14 total members. The Lottery originally did not disclose this information at the time they announced Struyck as the winner, citing that they have never had a group win of this magnitude before.
The California Lottery told Lottery Post that the group of winners opted to take the cash option of the jackpot, which came out to $774.1 million before taxes. One of the best things about winning the lottery in California is that there is no state tax on lottery prizes, with only federal taxes to pay. After deducting federal taxes from the prize, the group took home $588.3 million.
The Lottery also revealed to Lottery Post that the winning ticket was a Quick Pick, information they treated as sensitive information during their initial announcement.
The jackpot win ended the historic Powerball run after 36 consecutive drawings, which lasted approximately three months.
Those 36 draws alone generated $119.5 million for public schools in California, according to the Lottery.
"Announcing big wins like this gives all of our players the chance to hope and dream that they could be next," California Lottery Director Harjinder K. Shergill Chima said in a press release. "But it also gives us an opportunity to shine the spotlight on our terrific mission, which is to generate additional, supplemental funding for public education in California. So, it's students of all ages across the state, who win every day thanks to our players, our retail partners who sell these fun games, and our hard-working staff here at the Lottery. This is an exciting day for all of us!"
It was also the fourth time someone in the state of California purchased a winning ticket for a lottery jackpot worth more than $1 billion. Only one of those jackpots was shared with players from other states, meaning it's also the third lottery ticket sold in the state laying sole claim to a $1 billion+ jackpot.
Midway Market & Liquor, a family-owned business situated about 75 miles north of Los Angeles, took home a $1 million check from the Lottery as a bonus for selling the winning ticket. The California Lottery's 23,000 retailers across the state collectively earned more than $18 million in commissions and bonuses during the jackpot run, according to a press release.
The largest jackpot ever won is the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot drawn in 2022, which was claimed by Altadena resident and vintage car enthusiast Edwin Castro.
The Powerball jackpot currently stands at $600 million for the next drawing on Sat., Mar. 16 at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.
Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Drawings take place at 10:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
The winning numbers, official drawing videos, jackpot analysis showing after-tax jackpot amounts, complete prize payout charts, and more can be found at USA Mega (www.usamega.com), a popular website offering in-depth information about the USA's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Powerball and Mega Millions.
Had forgot all about this. Congratulations on their huge win.
Too bad they didn't release the numbers of players. Probably 15 or more years ago had printed off their multi-page instructions of what to do with big winning lottery tickets. If memory serves me correctly they will cut up to 50 separate checks. I love that idea and glad this state will too, though they never said how many checks would be cut here!
* Hope remains!
Happy to see so many people will benefit from such a big win !
Congrats to all winning members. Enjoy your newly acquired wealth for decades to come.
I remember the video we saw of the screaming lady.
I hope she is part of the group.
Funny that whether a ticket was a QP or not is sensitive information.
Congratulations to the winners.
It could be a group of two people 🤣
"The Lottery declined to reveal whether the winning ticket was a Quick Pick or bought using self-selected numbers, as they are currently treating it as sensitive information. "
Lottery Players
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I know I will be part of this lottery dream come true group someday just like they knew they would but the hardest part about this journey, I just don't know when it will happen so I just keep playing with my hard earned money and to stay relevant while the enemy of DEFEAT try to win and take me down but my PERSISTENT will conquer all to reach my dreams 🤷🏾♂️
I believe the video of the lady screaming was a different jackpot won in Los Angeles .
The Powerball draw numbers for Oct. 11, 2023 were: 22-24-40-52--64-10. I don't know why the winning numbers were not released because it was easy to lookup. The odd thing about these numbers is they are ALL even numbers. This is a very rare occurrence.
The cash value ..... Was it the cash value of the day of the drawing or the cash value of the day it (ticket) was cashed in?
It's below 50 percent ......
Just thought I'd throw it out here for discussion.
Best of luck to all that play your numbers for this saints Patrick day weekend! Wouldn't it be awesome if someone from this group won big!
Congratulations to the winners! I hope their newfound wealth will bring peace and happiness to them for many years to come.
I still have hope my time will come.
The day of the draw.
Playing in a pool is the best way to play the lottery. Helps overcome the odds and everyone in the pool walks away a multi millionaire.
MegaMillions rolled to $875million. It may be hitting a billion soon as well.
"Funny that whether a ticket was a QP or not is sensitive information. "
They're treating it as sensitive information. I can't even begin to fathom how it could possibly be sensitive information.
"It could be a group of two people "
My wife and I are a group of two people. I suspect that's pretty common among married couples.
"Was it the cash value of the day of the drawing or the cash value of the day it (ticket) was cashed in?"
Here's a fun, and wildly surprising, fact: the cash value is determined by how much cash they have, which is determined by how many tickets are sold. Fluctuating interest rates and changing annuity values have no affect on how many tickets were already sold.
If anyone was able to determine when all even or all odd numbers will drop, then that will cut the board in half for all those that use wheeling strategies. Good Luck All.
Cash value has been less than 50% for a while .. since interest rates started shooting up (big change from the COVID days of 83% :)
But the hight interest rates is why the jackpots are so high (the return on annuity investments is earning a lot more.. 30 yr government bonds are over 4% now vs not much more than 2% during COVID
Chances of evens...
Correct me if I get this wrong, but
34/69 x 33/68 x 32/ 67 x 31/66 x 30/65 = number of possible combinations.... 33,907,720 /1,348,621,560 =2.4859%
Odd numbers are a bit more likely (35 of them)..
Anyway.. it should happen once every 40-41 draws :) With 3 per week.... about every 13-14 weeks or about 3 times a year... with odd numbers coming up about 3 times a year as well...
I don't even remember where that was, just remember that is was a significant win.
Wonder if she was the winner in that draw.
Google search said she in a Las Palmitas Mini-Market in downtown LA acting the fool.
What kind of transparency is this? Won't release information if it was a QP or not...sensitive data? Give me a break.
CA lottery certainly did not have sensitivity when they outed the player on video buying a multi million dollar ticket did they?
This was the Frazier Park, CA which is outside LA; the jackpot with the screaming lady was downtown LA
Remember, the CEO of raising canes spent $250K on mega millions tickets and won zilch 2 years ago, pool or not the odds remain the same: horrible 😮💨
Interesting.
I think the education system in Britain is much better than United States. The British appear to understand probabilities much better.
In Britain, most jackpots are won by pools. They are referred to as syndicates in Britain.
There is mathematical proof. Your odds of winning increase dramatically with more tickets bought.
How many Powerball and Mega Millions winners does California have?
Why didn't they show the names of all the participants in the group? Or, as someone mentioned earlier, maybe it was just Theodorus Struyck and his wife?
so glad to see another winner from Ca. Life changing