The massive $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot has reportedly sold its winning ticket in California, according to state officials. The ticket holder will now have the largest lottery prize ever awarded.
CNN initially reported the news that a California retail location, Joe’s Service Center, had sold the winning ticket. The ticket holder officially beat the 1 in 292.2 million odds. The six-digit ticket was announced on Tuesday morning following the Monday night drawing delay.
The lottery prize had already been listed as the largest in history at $1.6 billion and continued to rise. The news of the winning ticket sales comes after Powerball issued a statement on why the drawings for Monday evening were delayed.
Powerball notified participants that one lottery was “…still processing its sales and play data.” This led to delayed drawings, as Powerball requires all 48 participation lotteries to input the information before a drawing can take place.
It was then reported that a lottery in Minnesota needed additional time to process its data, causing the delay. The winning ticket has now been sold after that delayed drawing took place, which pushed the winnings to exceed $2 billion.
There has been no Powerball winner since August 3rd when a Pennsylvania resident claimed the winning numbers. Yet, that total doesn’t compare to the massive prize awaiting the winner of this $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.
The earnings from this Powerball jackpot are the highest since January 2016. In 2016, a $1.586 billion prize was split between three winners. Moreover, each of the three took home a reported $983.5 million in what was the largest cash value earning up to that point.