July 20 (UPI) — One California lottery player beat the astronomical one-in-292.2 million odds to win the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, the third largest in the history of the game.
The single player matched the white balls 7, 10, 11, 13, 24 and the Powerball 24, along with the Power Play 2X multiplier. The jackpot has a cash value of $558.1 million.
“For more than 30 years, Powerball has brought people together to dream big and win big, and in doing so, has raised billions of dollars for good causes supported by lotteries,” Drew Svitko, Powerball Product Group chair and Pennsylvania Lottery executive director, said in a statement.
“A portion of every Powerball ticket sold during this jackpot run will go toward furthering that legacy of supporting public programs and services in your community.”
The winner will have the choice between 30 annual payments or a lump sum payment of $558.1 million. Both options are before taxes. If the winner selects the annuity option, they will receive one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year.
The win marked the second time within a year that the Powerball jackpot yielded a billion-dollar total. On Nov. 2, 2022, another single California ticket won the game’s biggest jackpot ever, $2.04 billion. Three winners captured Powerball’s $1.586 billion jackpot on Jan. 13, 2016.
Powerball said 36 tickets — which included seven in California, five in New York and four in Texas — matched all five of the white balls and will receive $1 million each.
Players who missed out on the Powerball jackpot can now turn to Mega Millions, which has a jackpot of $720 million as its next drawing approaches on Friday. That jackpot is expected to rise to close to $1 billion by the time of the drawing.
The current $720 million jackpot is currently the fifth highest in Mega Millions history.