Wednesday night’s penultimate Powerball draw of 2023 failed once again to provide a Grand Prize winner, leaving the jackpot for the last drawing of the year to exceed three quarters of a billion dollars.
Wednesday’s winning numbers were 4, 11, 38, 51, and 68, with the red Powerball 5. The Power Play option was 3X.
While the estimated $685 million Grand Prize stayed in the bank, one lucky winner from Texas raked in $2 million after matching all five white balls and the Power Play.
A player from California took a solid million dollars home after matching all five white-ball numbers. 8 people matched four white balls and the Power Play, taking home $150,000 each, while 34 won $50,000 for matching four whites.
Saturday’s drawing will have an estimated jackpot of approximately $760 million, or a cash value of $382.5 million. The odds of winning the jackpot are roughly 1 in 292 million.
Powerball winners have the option to receive the jackpot spread in 30 incremental payments over 29 years, or as a one-time lump sum.
It’s been 33 draws in a row now since a jackpot was last won: On Oct. 11, a Powerball player from Frazier Park, California, took home a whopping $1.76 billion—or the $774 million cash prize.
As is common practice, neither the identity of the winner nor the chosen payment option were disclosed, nor whether he or she may have come forward to claim the prize.
Powerball winners can remain anonymous in 18 states if they want to, but not in California.
It can take months, however, from the moment a winner shows to claim his prize in the lottery office to the moment their name is publicly announced, as the lottery has a rigorous vetting process that ensures that the person who says they’ve won is indeed the legitimate winner.
Nidal Khalil, owner of the family-owned Midway Market store in Frazier Park, has since been awarded a $1 million commission for selling the winning ticket to the as-yet anonymous winner.
The largest Powerball prize ever was won in November 2022, when Edwin Castro hit the $2.04 billion jackpot ticket. Mr. Castro opted for the lump sum cash prize of $997 million.
The intense interest in the $2 billion prize at the time delayed the drawing for almost 10 hours.
The store that sold Mr. Castro his winning ticket, Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California, also received a $1 million bonus, a prize owner Joe Chahayed Jr. said he wanted to share with his 11 grandchildren.
Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 pm ET. Prize claim processes vary from state to state. All prizes mentioned in this article are subject to federal taxes.
