Illinois ticket wins $1.04 billion Powerball jackpot

A single Powerball ticket sold in Illinois matched every number Wednesday night to win a $1.04 billion jackpot, ending a months-long run without a grand-prize winner and delivering the biggest Powerball prize of 2026, the lottery said.

The winning numbers were 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69, with a Powerball of 9.

The jackpot was the eighth-largest in Powerball history and the 15th lottery prize of at least $1 billion in U.S. history, according to CBS News. If the winner chooses the lump-sum cash option, the payout is $450.5 million before taxes. The winner can also take the full jackpot as an annuity paid over 29 years. CBS News reported that the annuity is made in 30 payments that increase by 5% each year. Both options are before taxes.

The win came after 44 drawings without a Powerball jackpot winner, CBS News reported. The previous jackpot was won May 2, when tickets bought in Florida and Texas split a $20 million prize. When no ticket matches all six numbers, the jackpot rolls over and grows; after a jackpot is won, the prize resets to a default $20 million.

The prize crossed the $1 billion mark after Monday’s drawing produced no jackpot winner. Powerball jackpots of that size were once rare, but changes to the game have helped raise the top prizes. The largest Powerball jackpot remains the $2.04 billion prize won in 2022. The next two largest were $1.817 billion and $1.787 billion, both won last year, NBC News reported. CBS News reported that the most recent billion-dollar lottery jackpot before Wednesday was a $1.82 billion prize won by a single ticket in Arkansas in December, the second-largest lottery prize.

Wednesday’s drawing also came shortly after Powerball expanded beyond the United States to allow participation from the United Kingdom. Ticket sales there began in late July, and CBS News reported Wednesday’s drawing was the first in which a U.K. participant could potentially have won.

In the United States, Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to NBC News. Tickets cost $2 each, CBS News reported.

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.