A Powerball jackpot worth $1.04 billion was won on a single ticket sold in Quincy, Illinois, for the draw on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, and nobody has claimed it yet.
The ticket came from the Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh at 310 North 36th Street, as reported by Muddy River News, and it matched 4, 26, 66, 67, 69 and Powerball 9. An Illinois Lottery spokesperson confirmed there was only one winning ticket nationwide, making this the eighth-largest prize in the game’s history.
Swisher Post had been tracking this same jackpot run as it climbed, back when the pot stood at $856 million and the draw on Wednesday, 5 August 2026 came and went without anyone matching all six numbers.
One week later the rollover had swollen into the biggest Powerball prize of 2026.
Where the Powerball jackpot ticket was sold
The Hy-Vee outlet that sold the ticket is in line for a $500 000 cash bonus from the Illinois Lottery, a standard reward for the retailer that moves a winning slip.
Staff there had a busy morning after the draw, with national broadcasters and newspapers all chasing the same story. Jon, who manages the store, put it plainly:
“It’s been a little crazy this morning.”
What the Powerball jackpot winner actually takes home
Illinois Lottery spokesperson Jennifer Born said the winner has 12 months from the draw date to claim, but only 60 days to choose the lump-sum cash option instead of the 20-year annuity.
That cash option is worth $450.5 million before the 37% federal tax and Illinois’s 4.95% state tax come off.
At roughly R19 to the US dollar, which is an approximate conversion, the advertised jackpot lands near R19.8 billion and the cash option near R8.6 billion before tax.
The store’s bonus alone works out to about R9.5 million, a tidy payday for a shop that simply sold someone a slip of paper.
Powerball ticket sales in Illinois feed the state’s public schools budget, and the lottery made a point of saying so when it confirmed the win.
Harold Mays, director of the Illinois Lottery, put the retailer and the schools in the same breath as the person holding the ticket:
“This is an exciting day for Illinois. We’re thrilled for the winner and the retailer that sold the winning ticket. Beyond celebrating this incredible win, every Powerball ticket purchased during this jackpot run also helped generate funding for Illinois public schools, demonstrating how the Lottery continues to benefit communities across the state.”
Why the Powerball jackpot winner is staying quiet
Born said big winners rarely rush to the podium, because they tend to want their legal and financial affairs in order before their name goes public, and because of the attention that arrives the moment it does.
The winner’s identity has not been confirmed.
The countdown started with the draw. Sixty days to decide on the lump sum, 12 months to claim the prize at all, and until someone walks into a lottery office with that slip, Quincy gets to keep guessing which of its neighbours is sitting on a billion dollars.
