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$1.765 billion — Powerball, October 2023
California again, eleven months later, and a winner who took two months to come forward.
$1.765bnCash option: $774.1 million.
The jackpot had rolled over thirty-five times before anyone hit it — a run of more than three months without a winner, which is what it takes to build a number that size.
The winning ticket was sold at a Midway Market in Frazier Park, a small town in the mountains north of Los Angeles. The winner waited roughly two months before claiming, which is the single most sensible thing anyone in this article did.
California does not let winners stay anonymous, so the delay was not about hiding. It was about having lawyers, accountants and a plan in place before the name went public — the difference between winning money and keeping it.