Illinois Ticket Wins $1.04 Billion Powerball Jackpot

A single ticket sold in Illinois won a $1.04 billion Powerball jackpot on Wednesday night, lottery officials said, marking the game's biggest prize of 2026.

The winning ticket was purchased at a Hy-Vee store on the Mississippi River, about halfway down the state. The winning numbers were 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69, with a Powerball of 9.

The jackpot is the eighth-largest in Powerball history and the 15th billion-dollar prize in U.S. lottery history. It had climbed past the $1 billion mark after a string of drawings without a winner.

The winner can choose a lump-sum cash payment of $450.5 million or an annuity of 30 payments over 29 years that increase by 5% annually. Both figures are before taxes.

"We're thrilled for the winner and the retailer that sold the winning ticket," Illinois Lottery President Harold Mays said in a statement. The Hy-Vee store will receive a $500,000 bonus for selling the ticket, CBS News Chicago reported.

Wednesday's drawing was the 44th since a jackpot was last won on May 2, when tickets in Florida and Texas split a $20 million prize. The last billion-dollar jackpot before Wednesday was won in December, when a ticket in Arkansas claimed $1.82 billion — Powerball's second-largest prize ever.

The drawing was also the first with a possible winner from the United Kingdom, where Powerball tickets went on sale in late July. The game is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets cost $2 each, and the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.