A single Powerball ticket sold in Illinois has matched all six winning numbers to claim a $1.04 billion jackpot, ending a 44-drawing run without a jackpot winner. The winning numbers drawn on Wednesday were 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69, with 9 as the red Powerball. The ticket also carried the 2X Power Play multiplier.
The $1.04 billion prize ranks as the eighth-largest Powerball jackpot ever won, according to Powerball. The winner can choose between the advertised $1.040 billion annuity or an estimated lump-sum payment of $450.5 million, with both amounts subject to taxes.
Under the annuity option, the winner would receive an initial payment followed by 29 annual instalments, with each payment increasing by 5% annually. The cash option, meanwhile, would provide the winner with $450.5 million before taxes as a single payment.
The jackpot was the largest Powerball prize won so far in 2026 and followed 44 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner and was the first jackpot run to include players from the United Kingdom since Powerball ticket sales began there on July 21.
Four tickets sold in Arizona, California, Florida and North Carolina matched all five white balls and qualified for the $1 million Match 5 prize. In California, the payout is determined on a pari-mutuel basis. A fifth ticket sold in Massachusetts matched the five white balls and used the Power Play option, doubling its prize to $2 million.
The previous Powerball jackpot was won on May 2, when tickets sold in Florida and Texas split a $20 million prize. Following Wednesday’s jackpot win, the prize will reset to $20 million for Saturday’s drawing.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot remain extremely low at one in 292.2 million. The size of the latest prize places it among the biggest lottery windfalls in US history, although it remains well below the record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won by a California ticket in November 2022.
