Powerball’s new winner took home the largest jackpot ever

On Tuesday, November 8th, 2022, Powerball lottery officials officially announced a new Jackpot winner after more than 3 months. A widely known fact about this large jackpot is that the chance to win it is 1 in 292,2 million, even though the lottery is played in 45 U.S. states!

Delay of the scheduled drawing:

On early Tuesday morning, the winning combination was picked, after almost 10 hours from the planned Monday night drawing.

Numbers that brought luck to this winner were 10, 33, 41, 47 and 56 (white balls) and the Powerball (red ball) was 10, according to officials. However, according to the California law, the name of the winner and other personal information must be concealed.

Problems with the delayed drawing occurred after members of the staff tried to process sales data at one of the game’s other member lotteries. The officials reacted with integrity to this unpredicted delay by putting game’s security process in the first place.

During Tuesday afternoon, it was reported that Minnesota Lottery verification system was responsible for this unplanned delay.

Drew Svitko, Executive director of the Pennsylvania lottery and the chairman of the Powerball Product Group, said: “Protecting the integrity of the draw is of utmost importance, and we are able to do that during this historic drawing with the cooperation of all participating lotteries.”

Terry Rich, former director of the Iowa lottery and member of the Powerball board, said: “Each state must verify through a dual process that all of the sales and dollars match before the Multi-State Lottery Association can do the draw. This is a state-by-state procedure, which separates the whole process and has been very efective.”

Small neighbourhood:

It’s assumed that winner is from little area located in the hill northeast of Los Angeles. It’s called Altadena, California.

Joe Chahayed, owner of Joe’s Service Center, aka the location where the Jackpot ticket was bought, said: “I’m very surprised. Very excited. Very happy. 

“I wish I knew the person, but most people who buy tickets from me are from the neighbourhood. I hope one of them will be the winner.”

Because he sold the winning ticket, he will get $1 million, maximum Powerball bonus, which Joe will donate to the community and spend on his 5 children.

Thomas Murrell, local Joe’s customer, said: “I know Joe. I’ve known him for years and talk to him all the time. Joe’s always been a lucky guy. He’s a good guy. I’m not surprised it happened here.”

Huge Jackpot:

It was originally planned that  the jackpot value would be 1,9 billion dollars, but the cash prize increased to 2,04 billion dollars on Tuesday morning, after a delayed drawing, making it the largest jackpot of all time.

The 2,04 billion dollars prize may be paid in yearly installments for over 29 years, but most winners choose immediate cash without taxes, which is 997,9 million dollars.