Winner of $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot bought ticket in Altadena, will be ID'd on Valentine's Day
ALTADENA, Calif. (CNS) -- The winner of a record-setting $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot has come forward more than three months after purchasing the winning ticket at an Altadena service station, state lottery officials announced Monday.
The winner is expected to be identified on Tuesday, according to a Twitter post from the California Lottery.
"We will show #CaliforniaEducation a whole lot of LOVE on #ValentinesDay when we unveil the sole winner of the record-breaking $2.04 billion #Powerball #jackpot from November," according to the Twitter post.
The winning ticket for the Nov. 7 drawing was purchased at Joe's Service Center on Woodbury Road in Altadena. The ticket matched all six numbers -- 10, 33, 41, 47, 56, and Powerball number 10.
The overall jackpot was $2.04 billion, the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. The single winning ticket will earn a prize of $1.9 billion, according to the California Lottery.
The holder of the winning ticket will have the option of taking the money in payments or in a lump sum. The lump sum payment would be $997.6 million.
Three other tickets sold in California matched five numbers in that drawing but missed the Powerball number. Those tickets -- sold in Gardena, Beaumont and San Francisco -- were each worth roughly $1.15 million. A total of 22 such tickets were sold nationally.
Joseph Chahayed, the owner of Joe's Service Center, earned a $1 million bonus as the retailer who sold the winning ticket.
"I would like to thank all the community (who) support me," he told reporters at the time. "And I would ... I encourage you to buy a ticket from this station. ... You're going to be a winner too."
He said he was grateful that the community and schools will benefit from the lottery funds. He said he planned to share his $1 million bonus payment with his family.
"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."
The local win marks the first time the California Lottery has doled out a jackpot topping $1 billion to a single winner.
The odds of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is 1 in 292.2 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game.
The Powerball game is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
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