Illinois Powerball ticket wins $1M, another wins $50K in Wednesday's drawing

CHICAGO - Two winning Powerball tickets, one worth $1 million and the other worth $50,000, were sold Wednesday in Illinois.

The $1 million winning Powerball ticket was purchased at Riverside Mobile, 503 N. Main St. in Sycamore, and matched the first five out of six winning numbers in Wednesday night's drawing, according to a statement from the Illinois Lottery. The winning numbers were — 19 – 36 – 37 – 46 – 56 — and the Powerball was 24.

The manager of Riverside Mobile told lottery officials they know who bought the winning ticket.

"A gentleman, who is one of our regular customers, popped into our store early this morning and exclaimed, 'you guys sold me a million dollar winning Powerball ticket - thank you, thank you'," said Betsy Byrd, store manager of Riverside Mobile.

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"My staff and I are excited that our store sold a big prize winning ticket, but we’re absolutely overjoyed that we sold the winning ticket to someone that we all know," added Byrd.

The lucky player is now the sixth Illinois Lottery player who has won a million dollars or more with Powerball since January, and the second in the current Powerball jackpot roll, according to lottery officials.

Betsy Byrd (right) and Julie Hurt, employees at Riverside Mobile in Sycamore, are all smiles after selling a $1 million winning Powerball ticket for the Wednesday, October 26 draw. (Illinois Lottery)

Riverside Mobile will receive a bonus of $10,000, or 1 percent of the prize amount, for selling the winning ticket.

The Illinois Lottery said another player won $50,000 in Wednesday's Powerball drawing, but did not say where the winning ticket was sold.

The players who bought the winning tickets should immediately sign the back of the ticket and keep it in a safe place until they visit an Illinois Lottery Prize Center, lottery officials said. Winners have one year from the original drawing to claim their prizes.

No one won the estimated $700 million Powerball jackpot, meaning the big prize will grow to an estimated $800 million for Saturday night's drawing.

No one has matched all six numbers and won the Powerball jackpot since Aug. 3, allowing the prize to grow to the fifth-largest in U.S. history. That amounts to 36 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner. The next drawing is Saturday.

The lack of a winner reflects the long odds of winning the grand prize, which are one in 292.2 million.

The new $800 million jackpot amount is for winners who take their winnings through an annuity, paid annually over 29 years. Nearly all winners actually choose the cash option, however, which would be $383.7 million after taxes.

The biggest lottery jackpot to date was a $1.586 billion Powerball prize that three ticket holders won in 2016.

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