A person who bought a Powerball ticket in Southern California has won a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot after more than three months without anyone hitting the top prize, The Associated Press reports.
The winning numbers were selected Tuesday morning, nearly 10 hours after the scheduled Monday night drawing because of problems processing sales data at one of the game's member lotteries. Lottery officials acknowledged the unprecedented delay for such a high-profile drawing but said the game's security process took precedence.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Minnesota Lottery acknowledged their sales verification system caused the lengthy delay.
The winning numbers drawn Tuesday morning at the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee were: white balls 10, 33, 41, 47 and 56, and the red Powerball was 10.
The jackpot ticket was sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, an unincorporated community in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles. For selling the winning ticket, business owner Joe Chahayed will receive a maximum Powerball bonus of $1 million, according to AP.
Chahayed said he didn't know who won the giant prize but hopes it's someone local. He added he would spend his $1 million on his five children and donate some to the community.
The $2.04 billion jackpot was by far the largest lottery prize ever won, topping the previous record $1.586 billion prize won by three Powerball ticketholders in 2016.
Only four previous jackpots have topped $1 billion, but none of those are close to the current prize, which started at $20 million back on August 6 and has grown over three winless months. No one has won the jackpot since August 3.
Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.