Believe it or not: One ticket just won a staggering $1.04 billion

Dubai: A single Powerball ticket sold in Illinois has won a $1.04 billion jackpot, ending a run of 44 consecutive drawings without a grand-prize winner and delivering the game’s biggest payout of 2026 so far. 

The winning ticket was bought at a Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh store in Quincy, western Illinois, according to lottery officials. The holder matched all six numbers in the 12 August drawing: 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69, with red Powerball 9. The winner’s identity has not been disclosed. 

The winner can choose between receiving the full $1.04 billion through an annuity paid in 30 instalments over 29 years or taking an immediate cash option of about $450.5 million before taxes. 

The jackpot is the eighth-largest in Powerball history and the second-largest lottery prize ever won in Illinois. It is also the third time an Illinois ticket has won the Powerball jackpot.

Before Wednesday’s draw, the state’s two previous jackpot wins came in 2010 and 2013, with Ted Baumgartner of Freeport taking a $50 million prize in March 2013. 

Wednesday’s win brought to an end a jackpot run stretching back to early May. Despite the extraordinary size of the prize, the odds of matching all five white balls and the Powerball remain about one in 292 million. 

The jackpot will now reset to $20 million for the next Powerball drawing.