One person in New Jersey is suddenly very wealthy after Powerball ended its streak of 35 drawings without a winner on Wednesday, awarding the 10th largest Powerball jackpot ever.
Wednesday’s jackpot was worth $835 million, the largest U.S. jackpot since a ticket in Illinois worth $1.04 billion was sold in August.
For those checking their numbers, the winning combination was 15, 34, 41, 53, 56 and Powerball 21.
The jackpot winner can choose between the full $835 million paid in annual installments over 29 years or a one-time lump sum of $363.1 million before taxes.
With the win, Saturday’s Powerball drawing will reset to $20 million.
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Powerball encourages everyone to check their tickets carefully, as more than 1 million tickets won cash prizes by matching one or more of the winning numbers.
There have been seven winning Powerball jackpot tickets sold this year.
For perspective, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 292 million. Powerball also offers smaller prizes ranging from $4 to $2 million, with the odds of winning any prize at about 1 in 25.
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Powerball is played in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The lottery also recently expanded to the United Kingdom. Since the game lengthened the odds in 2015, Powerball has averaged six to nine jackpot winners annually, and all 10 of its largest jackpots have occurred since that change. The record $2.04 billion jackpot was won Nov. 7, 2022.
