That’s billion — with a capital B.
A Powerball ticket sold in Illinois hit the massive $1.04 billion jackpot Wednesday night, marking the lottery game’s biggest grand prize so far this year.
The winning Powerball numbers were 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69, with the red Powerball 9.
The winner, whose identity has not yet been revealed, will be able to take the full $1.04 billion prize paid out over time or choose a one-time cash option worth $450.5 million.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are a staggering 1 in 292,201,338.
Wednesday’s win ranks as the eighth-largest jackpot in Powerball history, topping the $842.4 million prize won on New Year’s Day in 2024.
That holiday jackpot was claimed by a group known as “The Breakfast Club,” which opted for the $425.2 million cash payout after buying the winning ticket at a Food Castle grocery store in Grand Blanc, Mich.
Before this latest billion-dollar drawing, the Powerball jackpot had last been won on May 2, when two ticket holders in Texas and Florida split a $20 million prize.
The Texas player, who remained anonymous, chose the $9,000,000 cash option, which was split to $4,500,000 because of the share.
The Florida ticket remains unclaimed.
Wednesday’s win is the largest since Tracy Hartwick won the $1.82 billion Powerball jackpot drawing on Christmas Eve in Cabot, Arkansas.
Hartwick, whose brother Terry Hartwick is serving his third term as North Little Rock mayor, claimed the second-largest Powerball jackpot in history.
The new billionaire’s name remained confidential only for six months since he is the sibling of an elected official, according to Arkansas Act 889 of 2021.
Hartwick chose the one-time cash sum option and split it with his other brother and a third non-relative.
