A record-smashing $2.04 billion Powerball-winning ticket was sold in California, according to lottery officials.
The ticket was sold at a service station in Altadena, an unincorporated area about 14 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, the lottery said Tuesday morning. The holder of the winning ticket will be the first lottery-made billionaire in California’s history.
The winning numbers, according to the lottery, were 10-33-41-47-56, with a Power number of 10.
Station owner Joe Chahayed told a crowd of reporters and well-wishers clustered in front of his service station that state lottery officials called him the night before but only said some news would be coming in the morning.
“They came here before I opened,” he said. “They said, ’Congratulations.’ ”
Asked what he’d do with the $1 million, he said he’d share it with family, including his 11 grandchildren.
“No one else deserves this more than this man who’s worked hard all his life,” said one of the station’s workers who was on hand with Chahayed for the impromptu celebration aired on KTLA 5 news.
Asked if they knew who had the ticket, the workers would only say it was a regular and someone from the neighborhood.
Three additional tickets each worth $1,149,661 were sold in California, including one in San Francisco, according to the lottery. The 5-number tickets missed only the Powerball number. The other two were sold in Beaumont and Gardena, both in Southern California.
The news came as a turbulent finale to a Powerball saga that began the night before Monday night’s drawing was postponed to Tuesday morning after technical difficulties. The Multi-State Lottery Association said in a statement that the long delay occurred because “Powerball requires all 48 participating (state) lotteries to submit their sales and play data prior to the winning numbers being selected. Once Powerball receives the outstanding submission, the drawing can proceed.”
The association refused to identify the state whose problems were holding up the drawing, saying “it’s against our policy to name the lottery that is experiencing the delay,” according to the Associated Press. The California Lottery in a tweet said “it is not due to any delays at the California Lottery.”
Reporter Aldo Toledo and the Southern California News Group contributed to this report.
Source: www.mercurynews.com