WASHINGTON — Monday's Powerball drawing for the largest-ever jackpot was delayed nearly 10 hours because a participating lottery had issues processing sales, the lottery game said.
On Tuesday, the Minnesota Lottery confirmed the state's sales verification system caused a processing delay.
"The delay was necessary to confirm the Powerball drawing could be conducted securely and accurately. At no time was the integrity of the process compromised," a lottery representative said.
The Minnesota Lottery says it is conducting a "thorough review" and won't have more information to share until that review is complete.
The winning numbers and a video of the delayed drawing were released on Tuesday morning. Powerball later announced one ticket sold in California won the record $2.04 billion jackpot.
The Multi-State Lottery Association said Monday night’s Powerball drawing finally took place at 8:57 a.m. EST Tuesday. The association said it was against its policy to say which lottery had the delay.
“Powerball requires all 48 participating lotteries to submit their sales and play data prior to the winning numbers being selected. Once Powerball receives the outstanding submission, the drawing can proceed," the Multi-State Lottery Association said in a statement Monday evening.
Monday night's winning numbers are 10-33-41-47-56 with a Powerball of 10.
Terry Rich, a former director of the Iowa Lottery who also served on the Powerball board, told the Associated Press the delay was likely due to a two-part verification system of ticket sales that makes use of an outside vendor to ensure all is in order before the game's numbers are drawn.
“Each state must verify through a dual process that all of the sales and dollars match before the Multi-State Lottery Association can do the draw," said Rich, who headed the Iowa Lottery for 10 years and was president of the North American Lottery Association. “This is a state-by-state procedure, which separates the whole process and has been very effective."
Rich said state lotteries deal with similar problems several times a year but the delays usually don't attract much attention because the potential jackpots are far less than was up for grabs this week.
This was the second delayed drawing in the last three weeks. When the drawing was delayed last month, the delay lasted less than an hour. The same reason was given for the delay in October.
"Powerball has strict security requirements that must be met by all 48 lotteries before a drawing can occur," the website said.
The previous biggest prize was a $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot won by three ticketholders in 2016. Once a winning ticket matches the drawing, the Powerball jackpot starts over again at $20 million and continues to grow each drawing until it is won.
Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Top 10 biggest US lottery jackpots
- $2.04 billion Powerball (one ticket, from California)
- $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
- $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)
- $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)
- $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)
- $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)
- $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)
- $731.1 million, Powerball, Jan. 20, 2021 (one ticket, from Maryland)
- $687.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 27, 2018 (two tickets, from Iowa and New York)
- $656 million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2012 (three tickets, from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland)