A lucky Powerball player in Oregon is holding a ticket worth over $1.3 billion, claiming the massive jackpot after the drawing on Sunday. This win ends a long winless run stretching back more than three months, bringing excitement to lottery enthusiasts across the nation and specifically raising the question: Where Was The Powerball Won?
The single winning ticket, announced after a delay of several hours to the drawing, successfully matched all six numbers. Powerball confirmed in an official statement that the ticket is valued at a staggering $1.326 billion.
The winner now faces a life-changing decision: to receive the full jackpot as an annuity paid over 30 years, or to take a lump sum of $621 million in cash value. Choosing the annuity provides an immediate payout followed by 29 annual installments. It’s important to note that lottery winnings of this size are subject to federal taxes, and state taxes may also apply depending on where the winner resides and where the ticket was purchased – in this case, Oregon.
The winning numbers that brought fortune to the Oregon ticket holder are: 22, 27, 44, 52, 69, and the Powerball number 9.
Prior to this drawing, the Powerball jackpot had not been won since New Year’s Day. This 41-drawing streak without a jackpot winner matched previous long runs in both 2022 and 2021, highlighting how statistically rare it is to win the top prize.
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This impressive $1.326 billion prize now stands as the eighth-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. The sheer size of jackpots like these naturally increases ticket sales, but also makes winning even more challenging due to the long odds. For this particular drawing, the odds of hitting the jackpot were a daunting 1 in 292.2 million.
The scheduled drawing on Saturday night experienced an unusual delay. Powerball officials clarified that the drawing was moved to just before 2:30 a.m. Sunday at the Florida Lottery studio. This delay was necessary to allow one lottery jurisdiction to complete essential verification procedures before the numbers could be drawn at the originally scheduled time of 10:59 p.m.
According to Powerball’s statement, “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.” This rigorous process ensures that every ticket purchased for the Powerball drawing is accounted for and has an equal opportunity to win. On this occasion, one participating jurisdiction required additional time to finalize this pre-draw verification process.
Powerball is a popular lottery game played across 45 states, as well as in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball authorities did not immediately specify which jurisdiction caused the verification delay.
This recent event marks the second time in 17 months that a delay has occurred for a major Powerball jackpot drawing. In November 2022, the drawing for a record-breaking $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot, eventually won by a single ticket in Southern California, was delayed by nearly 10 hours. At that time, the Minnesota Lottery attributed the delay to a technical issue within their two-tiered verification system, managed by external vendors.
