Winning ticket sold in Altadena for record $2.04-billion Powerball jackpot — A little-known California company is now expected to collect more than two billion dollars, or more than $2,000 for every person on the planet.
The win was announced at California’s most famous movie theater, where the ticket was sold to a middle-aged man with an elderly grandmother.
It was the biggest Powerball jackpot since Texas had the chance to play with $450 million.
There were no immediate indications, but “the odds were very favorable to win the California lottery,” said Dave Howard, author of the book The Lottery. “But you have to get the number of balls you want and the dates of the balls, and I think that will be very easy to figure out.”
The odds to double your money in one Powerball draw are 1 in 175 million — “If you get the three balls that make up the Powerball, you’re looking at over a million to one chance,” said Howard.
With 2,042 Powerball tickets sold in the one store at the Altadena Mall between Feb. 17 and 26, the jackpot was $2,042,068, a record amount for a single store purchase. The previous record was $1,904,872 by the Mall at Short Pump store in Cincinnati. The California sales are estimated at $2,050,000. The store was called “Lottery Box by California Lottery,” which doesn’t exist any more.
“As a result of the record jackpot sales in Powerball, we have been overwhelmed with the donations we have received for the local community that rely on our services,” said Mary T. Miller, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Lottery Corporation, which operates the California lottery.
California Lottery is a government-regulated lottery that has operated since 1937, making it the longest-running lottery in the U.S. The California lottery is a state-owned enterprise supported by private donations, and the company is currently running ads for two- to 10-year annuities. The state lottery has made the jackpot the biggest ever at the time of the drawing — an impressive $1.6 billion.
“Powerball isn’t exactly a game we think would be fun to play. But there’s something appealing about the massive sums of money involved,” said Howard.
Winners will get tickets for life
