SACRAMENTO, CA – While players line up across the state to try their chances at two jackpots approaching the billion-dollar mark, today the California Lottery is revealing for the first time who won the massive, second highest-ever jackpot with a very lucky Powerball ticket sold in a small town in Kern County.
Theodorus Struyck represents the group of winners who bought that ticket at Midway Market in Frazier Park ahead of the historic draw back in October of last year.
Their jackpot win came during the 36th draw for that Powerball sequence – a run that allowed California Lottery to raise an additional $119.5 million for public schools.
“Announcing big wins like this gives all of our players the chance to hope and dream that they could be next,” said California Lottery Director Harjinder K. Shergill Chima. “But it also gives us an opportunity to shine the spotlight on our terrific mission, which is to generate additional, supplemental funding for public education in California. So, it’s students of all ages across the state, who win everyday thanks to our players, our retail partners who sell these fun games, and our hard-working staff here at the Lottery. This is an exciting day for all of us!”
Midway Market – a family-owned business for 30 years – received a $1,000,000 bonus check for selling the incredibly lucky ticket. California Lottery’s more than 23,000 retail partners collectively earned more than $18 million in commissions and bonuses during that historic three-month jackpot run.
This was the second largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever won, coming in behind the record-breaking $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot of 2022, also hit in California. California Lottery players have won, or co-won, the top four-largest jackpots in Powerball history dating back to 2016 – all worth more than $1 billion.