New Southland Billionaire in Altadena! Winning Powerball Ticket Sold at Joe’s Service Center on Woodbury Road

A single winning ticket for Monday night’s delayed Powerball lottery drawing was sold in Altadena, with the jackpot worth a record-setting $2.04 billion, lottery officials confirmed Tuesday.

California Lottery officials said the winning ticket was sold at Joe’s Service Center on Woodbury Road in Altadena. The ticket matched all six numbers — 10, 33, 41, 47, 56, and Powerball number 10.

The overall jackpot was $2.04 billion, the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. The single winning ticket will earn a prize of $1.9 billion, according to the California Lottery.

The holder of the winning ticket will have the option of taking the money in payments or in a lump sum. The lump sum payment would be $997.6 million.

Three other tickets sold in California matched five numbers in the drawing but missed the Powerball number. Those tickets — sold in Gardena, Beaumont and San Francisco — are each worth roughly $1.15 million. A total of 22 such tickets were sold nationally.

But the excitement Tuesday was at Joe’s Service Center, where owner Joseph Chahayed was swarmed by customers and media after the news broke. He said representatives from the California Lottery were at his shop before he even opened Tuesday morning to tell him the news.

“I would like to thank all the community (who) support me,” he said. “And I would … I encourage you to buy a ticket from this station. … You’re going to be a winner to.”

He said he was grateful that the community and schools will benefit from the lottery funds. As the retailer who sold the winning ticket, Chahayed received a $1 million bonus.

“I will share it with the family … with my kids, my grandchildren,” he said. `I have 11 grandchildren, and I have to share with them.

His son, Danny, said his father deserves the bonus.

“There’s no one else who deserves it more than this man,” he said. “He’s worked hard his whole life. He deserves every bit of it.”

Chahayed’s other son, Joe Jr., thanked the residents who have supported the business for 20 years.

“We want to just thank all of our community members who always come and are dedicated to this station,” he said. “They truly believe in luck and they truly believe that some things are just deserved to be. Hopefully one of the winners is from our community. And congratulations and thank you to the lottery system for creating a program where the schools are going to benefit. A lot of people are going to benefit from this, so great program. Appreciate it so much.”

The local win marks the first time the California Lottery has doled out a jackpot topping $1 billion to a single winner.

The Powerball drawing had been scheduled for 7:59 p.m. Monday. But the California Lottery announced at 8:07 p.m. Monday that the planned drawing was delayed due to a participating lottery needing extra time to complete the required security protocols. The lottery announced at 9:38 p.m. that there was another issue in another state.

Neither state involved was California, according to the California Lottery.

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

The winning numbers were not announced until Tuesday morning.

No tickets had been sold matching all six numbers since Aug. 3.

The odds of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is 1 in 292.2 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game.

The Powerball game is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.