The winner of the eighth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history won’t be announced for several weeks until their ticket is verified and arrangements are made for the massive payment, Oregon lottery officials said Tuesday.
A person with a ticket matching all six Powerball numbers in Saturday’s $1.3 billion jackpot came forward Monday to claim the prize from last weekend’s drawing. They bought the ticket at a grocery store in northeast Portland, Oregon.
For selling the winning ticket, the managers of the Plaid Pantry location plan to share their $100,000 bonus. The store’s other employees also typically get a share of the lottery bonuses, said Jonathan Polonsky, CEO and president of Plaid Pantry.
Lottery officials said they were taking precautions to verify the winnings and in order to send the winner the amount, they will have to work with the Multi-State Lottery Association, which oversees the Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries. That will take time.
“We’ve never hit a jackpot this big here in Oregon. There are a lot of moving pieces,” said Oregon Lottery spokesperson Melanie Mesaros.
Oregon has had five previous Powerball jackpot winners, including two families who shared a $340 million prize in 2005.
The jackpot has a cash value of $621 million if the winner chooses to take a lump sum instead of an annuity paid out over 30 years, with an immediate payout followed by 29 annual installments.
In Oregon, the price is subject to federal and state taxes, which reduces revenue by a few hundred million.
The prize was the fourth largest Powerball jackpot in history and the eighth largest among U.S. jackpot games, according to the Oregon Lottery.
The largest US lottery jackpot won in California in 2022 was $2.04 billion.