California ticketholder WINS $1.76 billion Powerball jackpot after 12 weeks of rollovers: Single ticket scoops the nation’s second-biggest lottery prize in history

A lucky California ticketholder struck the second-highest ever Powerball jackpot of $1.73 billion on Wednesday night.

The life-changing single ticket was sold at Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, a community nestled inside the Los Padres National Forest – just over an hour from Los Angeles. 

The winning numbers were: 22, 24, 40, 52, 64 and the Powerball 10. 

After 12 weeks of rollovers, the prize signals the end a long stretch without a winner. 

The whopping jackpot is the world´s second-largest lottery prize beaten only by the $2.04 billion Powerball prize won by Edwin Castro in California last November. 

The single ticket was sold at Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, the California Lottery revealed last night

Castro – who opted to take a lump sum of $997.6 million – has since purchased a $47 million Los Angeles compound, sold by celebrity realtor Mauricio Umansky, along with three separate California mansions for a total of $76 million.

The massive LA property has seven bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, a koi pond and an enormous infinity pool overlooking the city.

He was also seen driving away from a bank in a vintage Porsche.

Prior to Wednesday’s draw another California player matched all six numbers and pocketed $1.08 billion on July 19. 

If Wednesday’s winner choses to accept their prize as a lump sum they will be penalized more than any other in the last two decades.

When somebody wins the lottery they generally have two options as to how they can claim their prize money.

Either they accept a lump sum, which is paid to them immediately, or they claim the full ‘headline’ jackpot amount, which will be paid to them in annuities over the next 30 years.

If the winner of Wednesday’s $1.73 billion Powerball opts for a lump sum payment, as nearly 98 percent of winners have in the past, they will receive around $757 million immediately.

In January 21, the winner of the $730 million jackpot cashed out a whopping $550 million. The lump sum was therefore 75 percent of the advertised jackpot

The advertised jackpot is therefore the amount that you would get if the prize pool was invested in a portfolio of Treasury bonds for 30 years

On Wednesday, just 44 percent of the advertised $1.73 billion jackpot will be available as a lump sum. That is the lowest it has been since as far back as 2003

That may be a lot of money, but as a percentage of the advertised jackpot amount it’s the lowest its been since at least 2003, just 44 percent.

Powerball´s terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes becoming ever larger as they repeatedly roll over when no one wins. And wins in recent months have been few and far between.

That didn’t bother those eager to plunk down their money on Wednesday for a long-shot chance at instant wealth.

Robert Salvato Jr., a 60-year-old electrician, bought 40 Powerball tickets at a hardware store in Billerica, Massachusetts.

‘I would take care of family and give my cat that extra leg that she needs and make her a good kitty,’ said Salvato, who got married on Saturday.

‘I could give her a ring on every finger, I guess,’ Salvato said of his new wife.

Nevada is among the five states without Powerball, so friends Tamara Carter and Denise Davis drove from Las Vegas across the state line into California to buy tickets. But the line was so long at their first stop that they gave up and went in search of another store.

‘The line was about three hours long,’ Carter estimated. ‘I was waiting for maybe a half hour, and it didn´t move.’

The jackpot has grown enormous due to a long dry spell. The previous winning Powerball ticket was sold on July 19, and it was worth $1.08 billion after 39 drawings without a jackpot win.

At the same hardware store as Salvato, Kevin Button seemed to understand the long odds as he bought a ticket.

‘I only buy them usually when the jackpot´s high,’ Button said. ‘Seems to have been pretty high quite often lately. So I´ve tried quite a few times and haven´t even won a free ticket. But maybe tonight´s the night.’

In most states, a Powerball ticket costs $2 and players can select their own numbers or leave that task to a computer.

The $1.73 billion jackpot is for a sole winner who opts for payment through an annuity, doled out over 30 years. Winners almost always take the cash option.

Winnings would be subject to federal taxes, and many states also tax lottery winnings.

Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.