Someone just struck lotto gold in the Golden State.
The single winning ticket for the historic $2.04 billion Powerball lottery jackpot was sold in Altadena, Calif., lottery officials said Tuesday.
Only one winner matched all six numbers: 10, 33, 41, 47, 56 and a Powerball of 10. The 1 in 292.2 million chance ticket was sold at Joe’s Service Center, a gas station in Los Angeles County.
The identity of the ticketholder has not yet been shared — but it will be publicized eventually.
In the Golden State, the winner’s full name and the name and location of the business that sold their lucky ticket are required to be disclosed.
Under California public disclosure laws that information, as well as the total amount of winnings, are public information, according to the California Lottery Winner’s handbook.
The state is in the majority, as most are required by law to disclose lottery winner information. Only 11 US states, including New Jersey, allow winners to remain anonymous.
It’s then left to the lucky winner whether they want to share additional information, such as how they plan on spending their earnings.
The winner has the option to take either a lump-sum payout — which would amount to about $997.6 million — or an annuity, which would get doled out in 30 graduated payments over 29 years.
Tap the right side of the screen below to watch this web story:
While the IRS will take 24% for federal tax withholding, the state of California does not tax lottery winnings, according to the state’s lottery winner’s handbook.
After taxes, the lump sum would be about $758 million.
Tickets can be purchased by someone out of state, but if the ticketholder lives in California, they will not be faced with state or local tax withholdings.
The jackpot was a record-setting $1.98 billion but grew to $2.04 billion by the time of the drawing Tuesday morning, making it the world’s largest lottery prize, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.
The drawing was delayed from Monday night after one participating lottery had failed to report its sales and play data. All 48 participating lotteries are required to submit their sales and plays before the winning numbers can be drawn.
Powerball announced the setback in a statement shortly before the highly anticipated 11 p.m. drawing Monday night, and attributed the delay to lottery officials needing extra time to complete required “security protocols.”
There had been 40 consecutive Powerball drawings without a winner since Aug. 3, causing the jackpot to swell to over 2 billion. The previous largest Powerball jackpot was a massive $1.586 billion, and was shared between three ticketholders in 2016.
