(NEXSTAR) – Frequent lottery players know the drill: Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET. But that wasn’t the case Monday night, as the country waited on the winning numbers for the $2 billion jackpot — the highest ever.
A delay in one local jurisdiction caused the announcement to be delayed.
“Currently, one participating lottery is still processing its sales and play data,” the Multi-State Lottery Association said in a statement late Monday night. “Powerball requires all 48 participating lotteries to submit their sales and play data prior to the winning numbers being selected. Once Powerball receives the outstanding submission, the drawing can proceed.”
Shortly after 9 a.m. ET Tuesday, the winning numbers were finally announced: 10, 33, 41, 47, 56, and Powerball number 10.
In a statement to the Associated Press, the Multi-State Lottery Association said it had been in communication “throughout the night” with the jurisdiction in question to fix the problem. Lottery officials declined to name the state where the delay was taking place, telling the Associated Press, “It’s against our policy.”
“Like the rest of America, Powerball is eager to hold its drawing for the world record jackpot, however, protecting the integrity of the draw is of upmost importance, even if that means a further delay,” the group told the AP at the time.
The $2 billion jackpot is about $400 million larger than the previous record jackpot and will keep growing until someone wins the prize. Only four previous jackpots have topped $1 billion, but none of those are close to the current prize, which started at $20 million on Aug. 6 and over three winless months has grown ever more massive. No one has won the jackpot since Aug. 3.
Even as more people attracted by the giant prize drop $2 on a Powerball ticket, the game’s ultra-long odds of 1 in 292.2 million means there still is a good chance that another drawing will pass without anyone winning the grand prize. That would push the jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing even higher.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
