According to the organizer, there has not been such a win for three decades. In the US, a lottery player has won more than two billion dollars. There had previously been a lot of confusion surrounding the draw.

In the United States, a jackpot of around two billion dollars has been hit in the Powerball lottery. The winning ticket was bought in the US state of California, the organizers said. The numbers on it: 10, 33, 41, 47, 56 and as an additional number 10. It is the highest jackpot sum in the history of the lottery, which has existed since 1992, according to the organizers. The jackpot had grown to become the world’s largest grand prize in lottery history since there was last a winner in early August. Since then, in 40 draws, no participant has managed to get six correct numbers.

If the winner, who was not initially identified, wants everything paid out in cash immediately, he does not get the total of $ 2.04 billion (equivalent to almost 2.03 billion euros) but around $ 998 million due to various deductions. However, the winner could also opt for an annual payment of partial sums. In this way he could receive the entire sum over a period of three decades.

There had been confusion before – first because the drawing had not taken place at the usual time. That would have been due to security checks, it said. Then it was initially said that there was no winner – before the winning ticket was announced in California.

And even more lottery players could be happy: if you had five correct numbers but were wrong on the Powerball number, you can still look forward to a million dollars – in the end there were 22 new lottery millionaires. With four right numbers and the correct Powerball number, more than 200 players each won $50,000.

Powerball lottery tickets cost two dollars and are sold in 45 US states as well as the metropolitan area of ??Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The chance of hitting the jackpot is about one in 292 million. For comparison, the risk of being struck by lightning in the United States is about one in a million.

(This article was first published on Tuesday, November 08, 2022.)