Powerball players win historic $1.79B jackpot, ending three-month drought

Twice as nice!

A lucky Powerball player from Missouri and Texas each won the lottery’s historic $1.79 billion jackpot on Saturday night, ending a drought that spanned over three months.

The winning numbers for the game’s second-largest jackpot were 11, 23, 44, 61, 62 and the red Powerball 17.

The new multi-millionaires will split the jackpot equally, each choosing between an annuitized prize of $895 million paid out over 29 years, or a one-time lump sum of $410.3 million — before taxes, Powerball officials said.

Texas’ winning ticket was sold at Big’s 103 gas station in Fredericksburg, a rural city in central Texas, 75 miles west of Austin.

It is the 33rd time the Powerball jackpot has been won in Missouri, trailing Indiana’s 39 for most wins by a state. It is the third/fourth time Texas sold the Powerball jackpot.

Fifteen Powerball players won a million-dollar payout after matching all five white balls during the massive drawing.

The winners are from California (2), Colorado, Florida, Illinois (2), Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York (2), Ohio (2), Oregon, Texas (2) and West Virginia. 

Players from Kansas and Texas also matched all five white balls, but opted for the power play option, which doubled their prize to $2 million.

The transformational wins claim 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.