Illinois Powerball player wins $1.04 billion jackpot

A single Illinois Powerball ticket matched all six numbers on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, to win a $1.04 billion jackpot, the largest lottery prize of the year so far. The winner has not yet been identified publicly.

The winning numbers were 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69, with a red Powerball of 9. The ticket holder can choose between an annuitized prize of $1.04 billion paid in 30 installments over 29 years, or a lump-sum cash option of $450.5 million, both before taxes. Federal withholding of 24 percent would apply to the cash prize, and the winner could face a marginal tax rate as high as 37 percent, according to Forbes.

Stephen Durrell, Chair of the Powerball Product Group, congratulated the winner in a statement, noting that for more than three decades Powerball has shown a winning ticket can be sold anywhere the game is played, giving every $2 ticket the chance to change a winner's life and generations to come.

This jackpot was won after 44 consecutive drawings without a winner, following a previous win at the start of May. It is the eighth-largest jackpot in Powerball history. The largest single lottery jackpot in U.S. history remains the $2.04 billion prize won in California in November 2022 by Edwin Castro, who bought his ticket at a gas station in Altadena.

After this win, the Powerball jackpot resets to $20 million for the next drawing on Saturday. Powerball is played in 45 U.S. states plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and became available to players in the United Kingdom in July. The odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in 292,201,338.