Power(ball) move!
Two lucky Powerball players in Missouri and Texas won an estimated $1.8 billion jackpot Saturday night, the second-largest prize in game history, ending a historic run that spanned over three months.
The winning numbers were 11, 23, 44, 61, 62 and the red Powerball 17.
The new billionaires can choose between the nearly two billion-dollar jackpot paid out over a course of 29 years or a one-time lump sum of $826.4 million.
The transformational win is the second-largest jackpot in the game’s history, surpassing the $1.765 billion prize that California man Theodorus Struyck and his group claimed in 2023.
The then 65-year-old resident of Frazier Park, a mountain town 73 miles north of Los Angeles, chose the lump sum payment of $744 million before taxes.
Saturday’s win broke the 2025 jackpot record, smashing the previous mark of $526.5 million, which was awarded to a ticketholder in California during a March 29 drawing.
Odds of winning the Powerball grand prize are an astronomical 1 in 292.2 million. Meaning there are better chances of becoming President of the United States (1 in 32.6 million) than striking rich with the Florida-based lottery.
The three-month run of grand prizeless drawings had produced multiple new millionaires who managed to match all five white balls but never cashed in on the elusive red Powerball.
The unidentified ticket holders have between 90 days and up to a year to claim the prize, depending on the state where the ticket was sold.
Saturday night’s win was the first time the Jackpot grand prize was won since a ticket worth $204.5 million was sold in California on May 31.
That grand prize has yet to be claimed.
Californian Edwin Castro still holds the title for the largest Powerball win in history, winning the $2.04 billion pool on Nov. 7, 2022.
He chose the $997.6 million payout.
