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Powerball $1 billion winner: What we know so far about the Illinois jackpot holder and winning ticket
An Illinois Powerball player has won an estimated $1.04 billion jackpot, becoming the sole winner of Wednesday's lottery.
An Illinois Powerball player has won an estimated $1.04 billion jackpot, becoming the sole winner of Wednesday night’s drawing and claiming the largest Powerball prize of the year so far, according to the lottery organization and ABC News.
The winning ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Wednesday: 4, 26, 66, 67, 69 and the red Powerball 9.
The identity of the winner has not been released, and details about the person who bought the ticket remain unknown.
What we know about the winning ticket
The winning Powerball ticket was sold in Illinois, but the ABC News report does not identify the retailer that sold it or provide any information about the winner.
The ticket matched the five white balls and the red Powerball, securing the estimated $1.04 billion jackpot.
The winner now faces a choice between receiving the advertised jackpot through an annuity paid over 29 years or taking a $450.5 million lump-sum cash option.
Both figures are before taxes.
According to ABC News, the winner had not been publicly identified.
That means there is no confirmed information yet about the winner’s age, hometown, occupation, whether the ticket was purchased individually or as part of a group, or what the winner plans to do with the money.
The lottery organization also has not publicly provided details about when the winning ticket will be claimed.
Those details could emerge once the ticket holder comes forward and completes the process required to claim the prize.
Largest Powerball jackpot of 2026
The $1.04 billion prize is the largest Powerball jackpot so far this year and ranks as the eighth-largest jackpot in the game’s history, according to ABC News.
Wednesday’s drawing ended a long stretch without a jackpot winner. It was the 44th consecutive drawing since May 2, when the previous Powerball jackpot was won.
The latest win also comes after two Powerball jackpots worth more than $1 billion were awarded in 2025.
One of those was an estimated $1.8 billion jackpot won on Christmas Eve, which ABC News reported was the biggest US lottery prize ever at the time. Another $1.787 billion jackpot was won in September 2025 by tickets sold in Missouri and Texas.
