Plenty of lottery players will be transfixed late Monday on the outcome of the $1 billion Powerball drawing, but one lucky Centre County resident using Pennsylvania’s online lottery now has less reason to care as much.
That’s because the unidentified individual recently won a record $1.6 million in the online game PA Big Winner Spectacular, according to an announcement from the Pennsylvania Lottery. That amount was “the largest online prize ever won in U.S. history,” according to the lottery.
The iLottery that started in May 2018 has a wide range of games available for play by app or desktop, and PA Big Winner Spectacular is one of those with a progressive jackpot that builds over time until it’s hit. On Monday morning, it was back at a prize level under $55,000.
“Game play features include a chance to reveal a multiplier amount up to 50 times, a chance to unlock 10 free games, and a chance to activate the big keystone jackpot bonus game,” the lottery’s press release explained. The press release did not give details of the prior U.S. record for an online lottery game jackpot, but the previous high for a Pennsylvania iLottery award was a $319,798 Jungle Tumble Jackpots prize in April 2021.
The announcement comes at a time of heightened lottery interest across the U.S., with Monday night’s Powerball drawing reaching a billion-dollar prize for just the second time in the game’s history. A $1.586 billion prize was shared by three tickets in 2016.
Saturday’s drawing was valued at $825,000, but for the 37th straight drawing, no ticket matched all of the necessary numbers. If someone wins in the 10:59 p.m. drawing Monday, it will be the fifth-largest prize awarded in U.S. history.
Photo: Paul Kuehnel/Imagn Content Services
