A billion-dollar lottery win has transformed an ordinary gas station in Quincy, Illinois, into the center of a mystery: the ticket holder has yet to claim the $1.04 billion prize.
The winning ticket was sold at a Hy-Vee Gas Fresh & Fast convenience store in the Mississippi River town of roughly 39,000 people. Local manager Jon Marshall described the wait to Fox News Digital as “like a murder mystery,”1 capturing the mix of curiosity and excitement surrounding the unidentified winner.
The core facts are undisputed. The winning numbers were 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69, with Powerball 9. The jackpot was the eighth-largest in Powerball history and followed a three-month stretch without a top-prize winner, according to separate reports.2 The odds of matching all six numbers were approximately 1 in 292.2 million.
Where the accounts differ is in emphasis. One report focuses on Quincy’s small-town atmosphere, the crowds returning to the store and hopes that the eventual winner will reinvest in the community. Marshall said he hoped the winner would “build up some organizations in town.”1 Other coverage places the prize in a broader national context, noting that it was Powerball’s 15th billion-dollar jackpot and that the previous record remains the more than $2 billion prize won in California in 2022.3
The winner can choose a $1.04 billion annuity paid in 30 installments over 29 years or a $450.5 million lump sum, both before taxes.2 Illinois gives the ticket holder one year to claim the prize, although the cash option must be selected within 60 days. The winner may also request confidentiality, meaning Quincy’s biggest lottery mystery could remain unsolved.