Powerball: Winning $2 billion ticket sold in California
LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - Someone in California just made history as the state lottery's first-ever billionaire after matching all five numbers plus the Powerball in Monday night's jackpot drawing that soared to a whopping $2.04 billion.
According to California Lottery officials, the single winning ticket was sold in Los Angeles County at Joe’s Service Center located at 15 W. Woodbury Road in Altadena. Joe's also earns $1 million for selling the winning ticket.
Even sweeter, three more tickets in California won some big money after matching five numbers. Those three winning tickets were sold at the following locations:
Gardena: Stues Market, 13126 S. Western Avenue
Beaumont: Oak Valley 76, 1815 Oak Valley Village Circle
San Francisco: 1001 Castro Street
"I would like to thank all the community (who) support me," he said. "And I would ... I encourage you to buy a ticket from this station. ... You're going to be a winner too," said Altadena store owner Joseph Chahayed, who has owned and operated Joe's for the past 20 years.
"I will share it with the family ... with my kids, my grandchildren," he said. `I have 11 grandchildren, and I have to share with them.
His son, Danny, said his father deserves the bonus.
"There's no one else who deserves it more than this man," he said. "He's worked hard his whole life. He deserves every bit of it."
The winning numbers for the record-breaking $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot were finally shared on Tuesday after a delay due to processing issues with a participating lottery.
The winning numbers were white balls 10, 33, 41, 47, and 56, and the red Powerball 10.
The jackpot was the largest ever for Powerball and the largest in U.S. lottery history. Only four previous jackpots have ever topped $1 billion, but none of those are close to this prize, which started at $20 million back on Aug. 6 and over three winless months had grown ever more massive.
The overall odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are just 1 in 292.2 million. To put that into perspective, those odds are a little worse than flipping a coin and getting heads 28 straight times, University of Nebraska-Omaha mathematics professor Andrew Swift previously told the Associated Press.
For those feeling lucky and wanting to spend $2 for a ticket, the overall odds of winning any prize is a little better at 1 in 24.9.
The local win marks the first time the California Lottery has doled out a jackpot topping $1 billion to a single winner.
FOX Television Stations and City New Service contributed to this report.