Player scoops £620m jackpot in US Powerball lottery

Someone in Washington state overcame steep odds on Monday night to win more than a massive Powerball lottery jackpot.

The winning numbers were 05, 11, 22, 23, 69 and the Powerball 07.

Lottery officials said in a statement early on Tuesday that a single ticket matched all six numbers and was worth 754.6 US dollars million (£621 million).

The full jackpot is for a winner opting for an annuity distributed in one immediate but partial payout followed by additional payments over 29 years that increase by 5% annually. The winner also can opt for a one-time cash payment of 407.2 US dollars million (£338 million).

Both prizes available are the amounts before taxes, Powerball said.

The lottery game’s website shows the jackpot for the next drawing on Wednesday has dropped to 20 million US dollars (£16.6 million).

Monday night’s win was the first Powerball jackpot win since November 19 2022.

That winless streak allowed the prize to grow larger and larger until it stood as the ninth-largest in US history.

Higher interest rates have allowed annuity payments to increase compared with earlier jackpots, when rates were lower. Most winners prefer the immediate cash prize.

The game’s abysmal odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to build big prizes drawing more players. That strategy certainly has worked recently, as someone in Maine won a 1.35 billion US dollars (£11.2 billion) Mega Millions prize in January and a California player hit a record 2.04 billion US dollars (£1.7 billion) Powerball jackpot last November. No one has claimed either of those prizes.

Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.