Powerball's billion-dollar run ends with one lucky winner

Over 3 million tickets won prizes on Wednesday, but one Illinois player landed the ultimate payday of $1.04B.

Todd Betzold

News writer

Published Aug 13, 2026, 11:32 EDT

After weeks of watching the Powerball jackpot climb higher and higher, the billion-dollar run has finally come to an end. One lucky ticket purchased in Illinois matched all six numbers in the August 12, 2026, drawing to win a staggering $1.04 billion, making it the eighth-largest Powerball jackpot ever won. But the jackpot winner wasn't the only player celebrating, as millions of other tickets won prizes across the country.

Big win in Illinois

It was the 44th drawing for this current jackpot run, but it turned into the winning draw. One lucky ticket purchased in Illinois matched all the winning numbers drawn to win the $1.04 billion jackpot.

The winning white ball numbers for the August 12 drawing were 4, 26, 66, 67, 69, and the Powerball number was 9. The Power Play multiplier was 2.

The winning ticket was purchased at Hy-Vee Gas, located at 310 N. 36th St. in Quincy, Illinois. For selling the jackpot-winning ticket, the lucky retailer will receive a $500,000 cash bonus from the state lottery.

In a statement, Harold Mays, Director of the Illinois Lottery, expressed:

This is an exciting day for Illinois. We're thrilled for the winner and the retailer that sold the winning ticket. Beyond celebrating this incredible win, every Powerball ticket purchased during this jackpot run also helped generate funding for Illinois public schools, demonstrating how the Lottery continues to benefit communities across the state.

Second-largest lottery prize ever won in Illinois

It's amazing to think, but this $1.04 billion win last night isn't even the biggest lottery jackpot win the state has ever seen.

For Illinois Lottery players, this is the second-largest lottery prize ever won in the state. The largest lottery prize ever won was won on July 29, 2022.

That big win was from the Mega Millions drawing. That jackpot was for $1.34 billion, which is the fourth-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history.

The winning ticket was purchased by two friends in Des Plaines, Illinois. They stuck to their promise and evenly split the winnings.

Check those tickets

While there was only one jackpot-winning ticket sold in last night's drawing, lottery officials are telling players to make sure they check those tickets.

For last night's drawing, there were over 3 million tickets that won cash prizes by matching one or more of the winning numbers.

There were four tickets purchased in Arizona, California, Florida, and North Carolina that matched all five white balls to win the Match 5 prize. The Match 5 prize is $1 million, except in California. Their prize payouts are pari-mutuel and determined by sales and the number of winners. For this lucky Match 5 winner in California, they won $820,520 in last night's drawing.

A fifth ticket purchased in Massachusetts also matched all five white balls, but it included the Power Play option for an additional $1. This increased their winnings to $2 million.

New Top 10 Powerball jackpot rankings

With last night's jackpot win, we can now give the updated rankings for the Top 10 Powerball jackpots of all-time:

$2.04 billion – November 7, 2022 – Winning ticket sold in California.
$1.82 billion – December 24, 2025 – Winning ticket sold in Arkansas.
$1.79 billion – September 6, 2025 – Winning tickets sold in Missouri and Texas.
$1.77 billion – October 11, 2023 - Winning ticket sold in California.
$1.59 billion – January 13, 2016 – Three jackpot-winning tickets were sold in California, Florida, and Tennessee.
$1.33 billion – April 6, 2024 - Winning ticket sold in Oregon.
$1.08 billion – July 19, 2023 – Winning ticket sold in California.
$1.04 billion – August 12, 2026 – Winning ticket sold in Illinois.
$842.4 million – January 1, 2024 – Winning ticket sold in Michigan.
$768.4 million – March 27, 2019 – Winning ticket sold in Wisconsin.