Historic $1.9B Powerball Drawing Delayed, Security Protocols Blamed

Posted on: November 8, 2022, 03:20h. 

Last updated on: November 8, 2022, 04:32h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

UPDATE: Delayed Powerball numbers have been released for a record $2.04B jackpot. The drawing was not announced until Tuesday morning, close to 10 hours later than scheduled.

EARLIER: The record $1.9 billion Powerball drawing was delayed Monday night because of a security protocol glitch, news reports said. The November 7 drawing may not take place until Tuesday morning, California lottery officials said.

Jose Garcia waits in line to purchase Powerball tickets
Jose Garcia waits in line to purchase Powerball tickets at the Bluebird Liquor store in Hawthorne, Calif. over the weekend. Ticket purchasers have to wait longer to find out if they won after Monday’s drawing was delayed. (Image: Damian Dovarganes/AP)

Details about the reason for the glitch were not immediately known, but the lottery in one unidentified state apparently needed extra time to process ticket sales, the Multi-State Lottery Commission told CNN in a statement.

The California Lottery said lottery operations in the Golden State didn’t cause the delay.

“Powerball has strict security requirements that must be met by all 48 lotteries before a drawing can occur,” the California Lottery said in a Tuesday morning tweet.

When the required security protocols are complete, the drawing will be performed under the supervision of lottery security officials and independent auditors. Winning numbers will be posted as soon as they are available,” the California Lottery added.

As of early Tuesday, lottery officials did not release an estimated time for the drawing. Monday night’s drawing was supposed to take place at 10:59 pm ET.

Prior Powerball Glitches

Glitches have struck Powerball operations in the past. As of Sunday, the Powerball website was overloaded with increased traffic. The Powerball website was offline Sunday morning, with only a landing page displaying Saturday night’s winning numbers.

Monday’s delayed drawing isn’t a first for the Powerball lottery.

On April 8, 2022, a Powerball drawing was delayed for more than four hours because one state still needed to meet security protocols. In that drawing, Powerball said that one lottery required “additional processing time,” news reports said.

“While we apologize for the delay in delivering the information to the public, the additional time enables us to ensure that we are reporting the official and verified number of prize winners,” the lottery operation said in April.

Historic Drawing

On Saturday, no ticket matched the five white balls and lone red Powerball to win the jackpot. That jackpot was about $1.6 billion.

Previously, the largest Powerball ever won was a January 2016 drawing. Three winners divided a $1.586 billion jackpot. The largest single US lottery win occurred in October 2018, when a Mega Millions player in South Carolina won a $1.537 billion jackpot.

Powerball players across the US were eagerly awaiting the release of November 7’s winning numbers on Monday night. That’s despite the chance of a single ticket hitting the jackpot being only about one in 292 million, Powerball officials have revealed.

Still, one prior winner, Timothy Schultz, who lives in Iowa, won $28 million in 1999 in the Iowa Powerball. He worked in a business and sold himself the winning ticket.

“I know better than anyone that it only takes one ticket to win,” Schultz told Fox News. “Your life can change in an instant.”

Players in Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, North Carolina, and New Hampshire are afforded the convenience of buying a Powerball ticket online. Players in other states that participate in Powerball need to go to a business selling lottery tickets.

Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.