Somebody in Illinois just had the kind of Wednesday night that makes Thursday morning considerably easier.
A single Powerball ticket sold in Quincy, Illinois, matched all six numbers in Wednesday night’s drawing to capture a staggering $1.04 billion jackpot, ending a 44-drawing streak without a grand prize winner.
The winning numbers were 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69, with red Powerball 9.
The ticket was purchased at a Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh gas station in Quincy, according to lottery officials. The jackpot is the largest Powerball prize awarded so far in 2026, the eighth-largest in the game’s history and the second-largest lottery jackpot ever won in Illinois.
Not exactly a bad return on a stop at the gas station.
The winner’s identity was not immediately known, and it might remain that way. Illinois allows winners receiving prizes of $250,000 or more to request confidentiality. Considering the ticket is worth roughly $1.04 billion, keeping the name private might suddenly look like the most valuable option on the entire claim form.
The winner also has a major financial decision ahead.
The jackpot can be taken as a $1.04 billion annuity consisting of 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or the winner can select a one-time cash payment estimated at $450.5 million. Both amounts are before taxes.
Lottery officials say the winner has one year from Wednesday’s drawing to claim the prize. They are advising the ticket holder to sign the back of the ticket and keep it somewhere secure.
That seems like excellent advice when a small piece of paper is suddenly worth more than the lifetime earnings of several professional sports teams.
The store that sold the winning ticket gets something to celebrate too. Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh will receive a $500,000 bonus.
“This is an exciting day for Illinois,” Illinois Lottery Director Harold Mays said. “We’re thrilled for the winner and the retailer that sold the winning ticket.”
The massive jackpot had been building since early May, with 44 consecutive drawings failing to produce a grand prize winner. As the jackpot climbed past $1 billion, millions of Americans bought tickets despite the intimidating odds.
The chance of matching all five white balls plus the Powerball is approximately one in 292.2 million.
Several other players came remarkably close Wednesday. Tickets sold in Arizona, California, Florida and North Carolina matched all five white numbers but missed the Powerball, earning Match 5 prizes generally worth $1 million. A Massachusetts ticket matched the five white balls and included Power Play, increasing its prize to $2 million.
More than three million tickets nationwide won prizes during the drawing.
Illinois also received another beneficiary from the jackpot frenzy: public education. State players purchased more than $53.8 million in Powerball tickets during the jackpot run beginning in May, generating more than $21.5 million for Illinois’ Common School Fund supporting K-12 education.
Even at $1.04 billion, Wednesday’s prize does not come close to the Powerball record. The largest jackpot remains the extraordinary $2.04 billion prize won by a California ticket in November 2022.
Now the jackpot resets to $20 million for Saturday night’s drawing.
For one mystery ticket holder in Illinois, however, $20 million probably doesn’t sound quite as impressive as it did Wednesday afternoon.
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