Fridley Powerball player just misses $1B prize, wins $1 million

While the jackpot in the multistate Powerball lottery has surged past the $1 billion mark, there was no foolin’ around in Fridley on April Fools’ Day this year, when a player snared a cool $1 million prize.

A Powerball ticket purchased at Casey’s General Store along University Avenue matched the first five numbers drawn Monday night to snag the $1 million windfall — before taxes.

The numbers drawn were 19-24-40-42-56, and the Powerball was 23.

The $1 million prize must be claimed in person at Minnesota Lottery headquarters in Roseville. Minnesota Lottery officials recommended that winners call ahead to make an appointment.

Lottery winners above $10,000 reserve the right to keep their identity and city of residence private.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming on the Daydream Network. The Powerball jackpot stands at $1.09 billion as of Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday night’s drawing will amount to the ninth-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.

The $1.09 billion prize is for only a sole winner who makes the rare decision to be paid by annuity over 30 years. Nearly all big winners opt for the cash-payout option, which for Wednesday night would be roughly $527.3 million.

No one has won the Powerball jackpot since New Year’s Day, a stretch of 39 drawings without anyone picking the game’s six numbers. If no one wins the 40th jackpot on Wednesday night, it rolls to Saturday, which would match the record of 41 consecutive drawings without a jackpot.

The reason for the jackpot drought is simple: The odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 292.2 million. Those kinds of odds create the large jackpots that in turn attract attention and drive up sales.

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.