Winning $754M Powerball ticket sold in Washington

One person in Washington state is the recipient of a life-changing prize after they won a $754.6 million Powerball jackpot, lottery officials said Tuesday.

While the winner's identity has not been revealed, a press release from Powerball said the person won after "matching all six numbers drawn" in Monday's lottery. This marks the first time a Powerball jackpot was claimed since last November, when the Powerball was reset after a record-breaking $2 billion ticket was sold in California. The jackpot had been eluding players since then, with the last 34 drawings yielding no winners.

Beyond being in Washington, the location of the winning ticket was not revealed by Powerball.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The winner now has a choice to make, as officials noted they will "have the choice between an annuitized prize of $754.6 million or a lump sum payment of $407.2 million," both of which would be before taxes. The annuity option would afford the winner one initial payment, followed by annual payments that increase five percent each year.

Monday's winning was "the fifth-largest Powerball jackpot" ever, per lottery officials, and also the "ninth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever won."

Powerball is not the only lottery game to see skyrocketing prizes in recent months, as the Mega Millions rose to $565 million this past December and was eventually claimed by one winner in Maine.

People probably shouldn't get their hopes up to be the next lucky one, though, as lottery officials noted that the odds of winning the jackpot are just one in 292.2 million. However, the odds of winning any prize during a Powerball game are significantly better, officials said, at one in 24.9.