$1.765 billion Powerball jackpot goes to a player who bought a ticket in a California mountain town

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A liquor store in a tiny California mountain town reverberated with excitement Thursday after word that the winning ticket for a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot was sold there. (Oct 12)

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Chris Khalil, left, and Jonathan Khalil, sons of the store co-owners, stand beneath a banner put up by lottery officials outside the Midway Market & Liquor where a winning ticket was sold in Frazier Park, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. The liquor store in a tiny California mountain town reverberated with excitement after word that the winning ticket for a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot was sold there. The drawing Wednesday night ended a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Store co-owner Nidal Khalil, center, goes over the previous day’s lottery ticket sales with nephew Chris Khalil, left, and son Jonathan Khalil, right, at the Midway Market & Liquor store, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Frazier Park, Calif., where a winning Powerball lottery ticket was sold. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Jonathan Khalil, left, and Chris Khalil, sons of the store co-owners, hold up a ceremonial check presented to them by lottery officials at the Midway Market & Liquor store, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Frazier Park, Calif., where a $1.765 billion winning Powerball ticket was sold. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Store co-owner Nidal Khalil talks with the media at the Midway Market & Liquor store, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Frazier Park, Calif., where a winning Powerball lottery ticket was sold. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Lottery official Anita Ayers, right, hangs a banner above the entrance to the Midway Market & Liquor store where a winning lottery ticket was sold in Frazier Park, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. The liquor store in a tiny California mountain town reverberated with excitement after word that the winning ticket for a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot was sold there. The drawing Wednesday night ended a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Store co-owner Nidal Khalil talks with lottery officials at the Midway Market & Liquor store, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Frazier Park, Calif., where a winning Powerball lottery ticket was sold. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Clerk Janea Herrera, left, helps a customer at the Midway Market & Liquor store where a winning lottery ticket was sold in Frazier Park, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Media gather outside the Midway Market & Liquor store where a winning lottery ticket was sold in Frazier Park, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Chris Khalil, left, gets interviewed by media at the Midway Market & Liquor store where a winning lottery ticket was sold in Frazier Park, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. Khalil is the son of the store’s owner. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Chris Khalil, right, helps a customer at the Midway Market & Liquor store where a winning lottery ticket was sold in Frazier Park, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. Khalil is the son of the store’s owner. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Clerk Janea Herrera, right, helps a customer at the Midway Market & Liquor store where a winning lottery ticket was sold in Frazier Park, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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This image made from video provided by KBAK shows the exterior of Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, California, on Oct. 12, 2023. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. The winning ticket was sold at Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, according to the California Lottery.(KBAK via AP)

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Lottery officials put up banners outside the entrance at the Midway Market & Liquor store, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Frazier Park, Calif., where a $1.765 billion winning Powerball ticket was sold. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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Store co-owner Nidal Khalil, center, smiles with son Jonathan Khalil, left, and nephew Chris Khalil, right, after putting on T-shirts at the Midway Market & Liquor store, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Frazier Park, Calif., where a winning Powerball lottery ticket was sold. A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

By MARCIO SANCHEZ and JOHN ANTCZAK

FRAZIER PARK, Calif. (AP) — A liquor store in a tiny California mountain town reverberated with excitement Thursday after word that the winning ticket for a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot was sold there.

The drawing Wednesday night ended a long stretch without a winner of the top prize and brought news media to Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, a community of 2,600 residents about 75 miles (121 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.

“That’s the most exciting news ever (to) happen to Frazier Park,” said store co-owner Nidal Khalil.

The winner had not come forward to him, he said, adding that he hoped it is one of his regular customers. Most are local retirees, he said.

The winning numbers were: 22, 24, 40, 52, 64 and the Powerball 10. In California, winners’ names must be disclosed. The store will receive a $1 million reward for selling the lucky ticket.

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Clerk Janea Herrera at first thought it was a joke when she was told the winning ticket was sold at the store 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) from the nearest interstate, She said she had no idea who bought the ticket but noted that most customers are local regulars.

“We’re not that close to the freeway so you have to go out of your way to come here,” Herrera said.

“It’s a tightknit community, everybody knows each other,” she said, describing Frazier Park as “pretty quiet, beautiful, you can see the stars at night.”

Before someone won the giant prize, there had been 35 consecutive drawings without a big winner, stretching back to July 19 when a player in California matched all six numbers and won $1.08 billion. The latest streak trailed the record of 41 draws set in 2021 and 2022.

Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot beyond its earlier advertised estimate of $1.73 billion, making it the world’s second-largest lottery prize. The only top prize that was ever bigger was the $2.04 billion Powerball won by a player in California last November.

Powerball’s terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes becoming ever larger as they repeatedly roll over when no one wins. Wins in recent months have been few and far between.

That didn’t bother those eager to plunk down their money ahead of Wednesday’s drawing for a long shot at instant wealth.

Robert Salvato Jr., a 60-year-old electrician, bought 40 Powerball tickets at a hardware store in Billerica, Massachusetts.

“I would take care of family and give my cat that extra leg that she needs and make her a good kitty,” said Salvato, who got married on Saturday.

“I could give her a ring on every finger, I guess,” Salvato said of his new wife.

Nevada is among the five states without Powerball, so friends Tamara Carter and Denise Davis drove from Las Vegas to California to buy tickets. The line was so long at their first stop that they went in search of another store.

“The line was about three hours long,” Carter estimated. “I was waiting for maybe a half hour, and it didn’t move.”

In most states, a Powerball ticket costs $2 and players can select their own numbers or leave that task to a computer.

The $1.765 billion jackpot is for a sole winner who opts for payment through an annuity, doled out over 30 years. Winners almost always take the cash option, which was estimated at $774.1 million.

Winnings would be subject to federal taxes, and many states also tax lottery winnings.

Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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Antczak reported from Los Angeles. Jim Salter in St. Louis, Rodrique Ngowi in Billerica, Massachusetts, and Ty O’Neil in California, near Primm, Nevada, contributed to this report.