It is the second largest lottery prize ever, not only in America, but in the whole world.
With the world’s second-largest lottery jackpot ever, worth $1.765 billion (about 650 billion Hungarian forints), the player whose winning ticket was drawn on Wednesday night in a popular US lottery game just got richer.
The winning Powerball ticket was sold at a general store in Frazier Park, near Los Angeles, California. When asked by local media, the store’s sales representative said that congratulatory phone calls had just poured in to the store after it emerged that the winning coupon came from there. He jokingly noted that someone owed him a truck, implying that many lottery ticket buyers had already promised to get him a truck if they won the jackpot.
The Powerball lottery jackpots have been accumulating since July 19, and 35 drawings have yielded no result. In the game, you have to match five numbers and a Powerball number drawn separately.
The $1.765 billion included in the jackpot is valid if the winner takes it not in a lump sum, but in installments spread over several years. If you want to take the prize in a lump sum, “only” $774 million (about 270 billion Hungarian forints) reaches the target. According to the American experience, the majority of winners choose this. The amount mentioned is gross, which means taxes must be paid afterwards, and in many states lottery winnings are subject to a special tax.
Powerball is available in all 45 US states, including Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, as well as the US Virgin Islands.
The largest lottery jackpot ever in the United States and at the same time in the world was worth $2.04 billion, and was won last November by a gambler from California, who is also on Powerball.
