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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The winner of a record-setting $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot has come forward more than three months after purchasing the winning ticket at an Altadena service station -- and is expected to be identified Tuesday, state lottery officials announced.
"We will show #CaliforniaEducation a whole lot of LOVE on #ValentinesDay when we unveil the sole winner of the record-breaking $2.04 billion #Powerball #jackpot from November," according to a Twitter post on Monday from California Lottery.
The winning ticket for the Nov. 7 drawing was purchased 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 that drawing but missed the Powerball number. Those tickets -- sold in Gardena, Beaumont and San Francisco -- were each worth roughly $1.15 million. A total of 22 such tickets were sold nationally.
Joseph Chahayed, the owner of Joe's Service Center, earned a $1 million bonus as the retailer who sold the jackpot-winning ticket.
"I would like to thank all the community (who) support me," he told reporters at the time. "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. He said he planned to share his $1 million bonus payment with his family.
"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."
The local win marks the first time the California Lottery has doled out a jackpot topping $1 billion to a single winner.
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.