Winning ticket sold in California for $2.04 billion Powerball

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A winning ticket for the record-setting $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot was sold in southern California, state lottery officials said Tuesday, after a drawing that was delayed by technical problems.

The Minnesota State Lottery claimed responsibility for delaying the Powerball drawing by several hours on Monday night. The problem was caused by the lottery's sales verification system.

"The delay was necessary to confirm the Powerball drawing could be conducted securely and accurately," Minnesota Lottery spokeswoman Marie Hinton said in a press release. "At no time was the integrity of the process compromised."

The numbers drawn on Tuesday morning at the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee were 10, 33, 41, 47 and 56 for the white balls and 10 for the red Powerball.

The California Lottery confirmed on its Twitter account that a winning ticket was sold.

"California Lottery makes its FIRST EVER Billionaire! One lucky ticket sold at Joe's Service Center in Altadena matched all 6 numbers in the November 7 #Powerball draw," the California Lottery tweeted.

The prize grew to the largest-ever in U.S. lottery history last Saturday when no one hit all six numbers in the $1.5 billion drawing. This sent the jackpot soaring to $1.9 billion ahead of Monday's scheduled drawing, before being adjusted to $2.04 billion on Tuesday.

Droves of people lined up at stores nationwide for a chance to win, the odds of which stand at 1 in 292.2 million.

A lottery prize has eclipsed the $1 billion mark four other times in U.S. history.

The previous record for a lottery prize was $1.586 billion claimed by three Powerball winners in 2016. One person in South Carolina picked the winning Mega Millions numbers in October 2018 and won $1.537 billion; in 2021, a Mega Millions ticket sold in Michigan hit for $1.05 billion. And this past July, the Mega Millions lottery jackpot surged to $1 billion after 29 straight draws without a winner.

The Powerball went more than three months without a first-prize winner, with the last jackpot won on Aug. 3.

Tickets cost $2 and the numbers are drawn at 10:59 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Lottery winners typically end up with a bigger share of the money by electing to take regular cash payouts over the course of 30 years, but would come out with far less if taking a lump sum payout all at once. The lump sum of the $2.04 billion jackpot is estimated at nearly $1 billion.