$1.08 billion Powerball jackpot winner identified
LOS ANGELES - We've finally got a winner!
California Lottery officials have revealed the identity of the very lucky person who hit the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot last summer, which was the third-largest prize in the game's history.
Yanira Alvarez purchased the winning ticket at Las Palmitas Mini Market in downtown Los Angeles, according to officials. Her win for the July drawing ended a 39-draw jackpot run for Powerball was the first of two back-to-back billion-dollar winning tickets sold in California.
The second win happened about three months later in October, when a $1.8 billion Powerball ticket was sold at Midway Market in Frazier Park. Earlier this month, a representative of that group was identified by lottery officials as Theodorus Struyck.
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It is unclear how many people are part of the group, but Struyck was described by locals as a 65-year-old man who lives only 500 yards from the store. Midway Market, a family-owned business for 30 years, received a $1 million bonus check for selling the winning ticket.
All four of the largest Powerball jackpots ever were won in California, including the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history — a $2.04 jackpot won in November 2022 by Edwin Castro. When it comes to Mega Millions, Californians haven't been quite as lucky, with only two wins in the game's top 10 prizes ever.
The winner's name and the name of the store are required to be made public under state law. In other states such as Arizona, Georgia and New Jersey, big lottery winners are permitted to stay anonymous.
After no winners in Saturday night's Powerball drawing, the jackpot has grown to a whopping $975 million.
There hasn't been a Powerball winner since New Year's Day. After Saturday's drawing, there have been 38 drawings and counting without a jackpot.
The odds of winning the grand prize jackpot are low — about 1 in 292,201,338.
FOX News contributed to this report.