Powerball: East Bay Ticket Among Two California $1.56M Winners as $1.787B Jackpot Splits in Missouri and Texas
By Braxton
Two California tickets match five in $1.787B Powerball
An East Bay lottery player is waking up a millionaire. A ticket sold in the East Bay matched five numbers in Saturday’s $1.787 billion Powerball drawing, good for $1,564,348. A second California ticket hit the same five-number prize. No California ticket matched all six numbers, but the jackpot was finally cracked in two other states.
The winning numbers for Saturday, September 6, 2025 were 11, 23, 44, 61, 62 and Powerball 17. The Power Play was 2. Two jackpot-winning tickets were sold—one in Missouri and one in Texas—splitting the top prize. Each jackpot winner can choose either an annuity worth about $893.5 million before taxes or a lump sum of roughly $410.3 million, also before taxes.
This drawing now ranks as the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever, behind the $2.04 billion Powerball prize won in California on November 7, 2022. Across all participating states, 18 tickets matched the first five numbers for the million-dollar tier; California accounted for two of those, with each worth $1,564,348 thanks to the state’s different payout structure. In California alone, nearly 1.5 million tickets hit at various prize levels—from $4 to seven figures.
Here’s what made Saturday different in California: the state doesn’t pay fixed amounts for non-jackpot prizes in multi-state games. Instead, the California Lottery uses a pari-mutuel system. That means prize amounts depend on total sales and how many winners there are in each tier. So while the Match 5 prize is typically $1 million in most states, California’s two Match 5 winners each landed $1,564,348. It also explains why the Power Play add-on isn’t offered in the state.
For the record, the odds are brutal. The chance of winning the jackpot is about 1 in 292 million. Matching five numbers without the Powerball lands at roughly 1 in 11.7 million. That’s why a pair of Match 5 winners in the same state—and in the same drawing—turns heads.
How California payouts work—and what happens next
State officials had not immediately released the name of the East Bay retailer or the identity of the winners. That typically comes after the claim process starts and tickets are validated. In California, non-jackpot Powerball winners have 180 days from the draw date to claim. If you’re holding a ticket that matched five, time matters.
If you think you won, the basics still apply:
- Sign the back of the ticket immediately and make a copy or take clear photos of both sides.
- Store it somewhere safe—ideally a fireproof envelope or a bank safe deposit box.
- Check the numbers carefully and keep the ticket intact; damage can slow verification.
- Contact a California Lottery District Office to start the claim. You can also mail in a claim, but in-person is safer for big prizes.
What about taxes? California does not impose state income tax on California Lottery prizes. Federal taxes do apply—there’s typically 24% withheld up front, and the final tax bill can rise depending on your total income and filing status. For the two jackpot winners in Missouri and Texas, federal taxes will also apply, and state tax rules depend on where each claim is made and the winner’s residency.
The two jackpot winners face a familiar decision: annuity or cash. The annuity pays out over 30 years, with payments that grow annually. It delivers the full advertised amount before taxes. The cash option is a single payment based on what’s actually in the prize pool, which is why it’s lower than the headline number. Most winners pick the lump sum, trading a larger total for immediate control of the money.
Saturday’s winning numbers—11, 23, 44, 61, 62, and 17—keep feeding a pattern we’ve seen during run-ups to huge jackpots: long streaks without a grand-prize hit fuel big sales, which in turn push up non-jackpot payouts in states like California that use pari-mutuel rules. That’s how you get a Match 5 prize here that beats the fixed $1 million many players expect elsewhere.
Retailers also feel the surge. Heavy foot traffic spikes in the final 24 hours before a massive drawing, and lines often stretch out the door at neighborhood convenience stores. While California awards retailer bonuses on certain winning sales, details tied to specific high-tier wins are usually confirmed after the claim is validated and the ticket is verified.
There’s another footnote for California players: the state doesn’t offer Power Play, so a Match 5 win here can’t be doubled to $2 million the way it can in some other states. But on nights like this, California’s pari-mutuel system often lifts the prize above that fixed benchmark anyway.
Saturday’s result reshapes the leaderboard. The new No. 2 jackpot goes to Missouri and Texas, while California still holds the top spot in the record books—the $2.04 billion ticket sold in Altadena in 2022. That history helps explain why the frenzy here feels familiar whenever the pot climbs into ten figures.
For the East Bay and the other California Match 5 winner, the next steps are pretty simple: protect the ticket, consult a tax professional, and file the claim well before the 180-day deadline. The jackpot resets for the next drawing, but the buzz isn’t going anywhere. When a pot this big finally breaks, people who haven’t played in years start asking about how the game works, what the odds mean, and whether their office pool should keep going.
Saturday’s answer? Yes, the big one finally hit. Two players took home shares of a $1.787 billion prize. And in California, two more walked away with seven-figure tickets—proof that you don’t need to hit all six numbers for life-changing money. If you bought in the East Bay, it’s worth checking your numbers one more time. That slip of paper might be worth $1,564,348.
Winning numbers: 11, 23, 44, 61, 62 and 17. Power Play: 2. Nearly 1.5 million California tickets landed prizes, from $4 all the way up to seven figures. And one East Bay buyer now knows what it feels like to beat the odds in Powerball.
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