Fourth-Biggest Powerball Jackpot Win Ever, $1.326 Billion, Hit Sunday Morning (Not Saturday Night)

Powerball players waited more than three months for a jackpot to be won. So what’s another three hours?

A ticket sold in Oregon won the massive $1.326 billion jackpot over the weekend, following a drawing just before 2:30 a.m. Sunday local time in Florida that was delayed from 11 p.m. Saturday due to a procedural hiccup.

The jackpot was the fourth largest in Powerball history and the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history, while the estimated lump-sum cash value of $621 million was good for fourth in Powerball history and ninth in overall U.S. lottery rankings.

The winning numbers were 22, 27, 44, 52, and 69 with a red Powerball of 9. One ticket, sold on Friday, matched all six numbers to win the grand prize and end a streak of futility that had lasted 40 straight drawings, dating back to Jan. 1.

The winner has one year to come forward and claim the prize, and Oregon law prohibits winners — with some exceptions — from remaining anonymous.

“I want to congratulate the winner on this life changing moment,” said Oregon Lottery Director Mike Wells in a statement. “No one in Oregon has ever won a prize on this scale, and it’s very exciting for our staff and players..”

Seven additional millionaires

In addition to the lone jackpot winner, seven tickets matched all five white balls but not the Powerball and earned $1 million each. They were sold in seven different states: Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts,Michigan, and Wyoming.

Based on some back-of-the-envelope math, Lottery Geeks estimates that 90 million tickets were sold nationwide for Saturday’s Powerball drawing — an increase of more than 50% from the estimate for the previous drawing.

The drawing in the Florida Lottery studio was delayed more than three hours because one jurisdiction was behind schedule on its procedural tasks.

“Powerball game rules require that every single ticket sold nationwide be checked and verified against two different computer systems before the winning numbers are drawn,” Powerball officials said in a statement late Saturday night. “This is done to ensure that every ticket sold for the Powerball drawing has been accounted for and has an equal chance to win. Tonight, we have one jurisdiction that needs extra time to complete that pre-draw process.”

Such a delay is not unprecedented. In November 2022, when the all-time record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot was hit, the drawing was held up for nearly 10 hours due to a technical issue with the Minnesota Lottery.

Bye-bye, jackpot fever

The Powerball jackpot now resets to $20 million (cash value: $9.4 million) for Monday night’s drawing.

Mega Millions inherits the title of richest current prize, estimated at $97 million ($45 million cash) for Tuesday’s draw. A New Jersey player hit the $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot on March 26, resetting that grand prize. Three drawings have since come and gone without a winner.

Tickets for both draw lotteries are sold in 45 states (all but Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, and for Mega Millions they’re slightly longer at 1 in 302.6 million.

All-Time Biggest Jackpots

Here’s the updated all-time top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots, following this past weekend’s score:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $1.76 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
3. $1.6 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
4. $1.59 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
5. $1.54 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
6. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
7. $1.34 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
8. $1.33 billion, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
9. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey
10. $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California

And here’s the all-time top 10 by lump-sum cash value:

1. $997.6 million, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $983.5 million, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
3. $877.8 million, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
4. $794.2 million, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
5. $780.5 million, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
6. $776.6 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021, won in Michigan
7. $774.1 million, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
8. $723.5 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
9. $621 million, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
10. $558.1 million, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California