ATLANTA (Reuters)

A Powerball player in California holds the only winning ticket in Tuesday’s drawing for the US$2.04 billion jackpot, according to the game’s website, ending a string of 40 drawings that produced no winners and pushed the top prize into record territory.

The lucky ticket holder, whose identity was not disclosed, has a choice of taking a lump sum of $997.6 million cash or receiving the full amount in 29 annual payments.

The odds of matching all six numbers in the drawing – 10, 33, 41, 47, 56 and 10 – were one in 292.2 million.

The previous record for a Powerball jackpot was set in 2016 when three ticket holders from California, Florida and Tennessee shared a $1.59-billion top prize.

DRAW DELAYED FOR HOURS

The $2.04-billion Powerball jackpot ranks as a world record for a lottery top prize, according to multiple media reports.

The drawing, which had been scheduled for 10:59 pm EST on Monday, was delayed for hours when at least one of the 48 participating state lotteries needed more processing time, according to a tweet from the California Lottery. It did not identify the state in question.

Officials of the Multi-State Lottery Commission, which supervises the Powerball drawing, could not be reached by Reuters for comment.