A single Powerball ticket sold in Illinois has hit a staggering $1.04 billion jackpot, ending a months-long run without a grand prize winner and creating one of the biggest lottery winners in American history.
The winning ticket was purchased at a Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh gas station in Quincy, Illinois, lottery officials announced Thursday. The ticket matched all six numbers from Wednesday night’s drawing: 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69, along with the red Powerball 9.
The enormous jackpot is the largest Powerball prize won so far in 2026 and ranks as the eighth-largest jackpot in the history of the game. It is also the second-largest lottery prize ever won in Illinois.
The identity of the lucky ticket holder was not immediately known. Under Illinois rules, winners of prizes worth $250,000 or more can request to keep their identities confidential, meaning the public may never learn who purchased the billion-dollar ticket.
The winner now faces a decision almost as extraordinary as the jackpot itself. The ticket holder can take the full $1.04 billion prize through an annuity consisting of 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or choose a one-time cash payment of approximately $450.5 million. Both figures are before taxes.
Lottery officials said the winner has one year from the date of Wednesday’s drawing to claim the prize. Officials are advising the ticket holder to immediately sign the back of the ticket and store it somewhere secure until they are prepared to come forward.
A Powerball ticket sold in Illinois matched all six numbers last night, winning an estimated $1.04 billion jackpot!
The winner can take the annuity or walk away with an estimated $450.5 million cash option before taxes & fees. pic.twitter.com/Hi7fBLgoCg
— SAY CHEESE! 👄🧀 (@SaycheeseDGTL) August 13, 2026
The Quincy gas station that sold the ticket is also getting a major payday. Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh will receive a $500,000 cash bonus for selling the winning ticket.
“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.”
Wednesday night’s win ended a remarkable streak of 44 consecutive Powerball drawings without a jackpot winner. The jackpot had been growing since early May, eventually crossing the billion-dollar mark as millions of players around the country tried their luck.
The odds of matching all five white balls and the Powerball are approximately one in 292.2 million.
The jackpot winner was not the only person to walk away with a massive prize Wednesday night.
Tickets sold in Arizona, California, Florida and North Carolina matched all five white balls but missed the Powerball. Those tickets won Match 5 prizes, which are generally worth $1 million. Another ticket sold in Massachusetts matched the five white balls and included the Power Play option, boosting that player’s prize to $2 million.
More than three million tickets nationwide won prizes of some amount during the drawing.
The billion-dollar jackpot also produced a significant windfall for Illinois public schools. According to the Illinois Lottery, players in the state purchased more than $53.8 million worth of Powerball tickets during the jackpot run that began in May. Those sales generated more than $21.5 million for the state’s Common School Fund, which supports K-12 public education.
The previous Powerball jackpot had been won on May 2, when tickets sold in Florida and Texas split a $20 million prize.
Despite its enormous size, Wednesday’s jackpot falls well short of the all-time Powerball record. That distinction belongs to the $2.04 billion jackpot won by a ticket sold in California in November 2022.
With the billion-dollar prize finally claimed, the Powerball jackpot will reset to $20 million for the next drawing Saturday night.
