A Powerball winner has been found!
Soon after the 11 p.m. Powerball drawing for $1 billion on Aug. 12, lottery officials shared online that a winner in Illinois matched all the numbers. The Illinois Lottery later revealed the winning ticket was purchased in Quincy, Illinois, and that final ticket sales had pushed the total to $1.04 billion.
The estimated cash option for the pot increased to $450.5 million, according to Powerball online. Wednesday's winning numbers were 4-26-66-67-69, and the Powerball was 9. Power Play was 2x.
The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot — no matter the size — are around 1 in 292.2 million. To put that into perspective, many things Floridians worry about, from hurricanes and lightning to shark bites, are far more likely than becoming the next Powerball millionaire.
The odds of being struck by lightning in a given year in the United States are roughly 1 in 1.2 million, according to data from the National Weather Service, with a cumulative risk of about 1 in 15,300 in an 80-year lifetime.
Since 2006, more than 500 people have been killed by lightning strikes in the U.S., according to the National Lightning Safety Council. Florida, often dubbed the "Lightning Strike Capital of the US" until recently, leads the country in fatal lightning strikes, with 98 since 2006.
With a U.S. population of about 300 million, VISIT FLORIDA says the odds of being attacked by a shark in the United States are roughly 1 in 10 million.
In 2025, Florida saw 11 shark attack cases out of the 25 in the entire country, representing 44% of the U.S. total and 17% of unprovoked bites worldwide. This is still lower than Florida's most recent five-year annual average of 19 incidents, according to ISAF.
According to the ISAF, the county with the most shark attacks in the state is still Volusia County, which is the "Shark Bite Capital of the World" and home to beaches like Daytona, New Smyrna and Ormond Beach. Volusia saw six out of Florida's 11 attacks.
The chances of being attacked by an alligator are about 1 in 24 million.
Attacks from an alligator are very rare, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reporting that only 500 total unprovoked alligator bites and 32 fatalities were documented across the entire state from 1948 through early 2026.
A woman swimming in the Silver River near Ocala nearly died on Aug. 8 when an alligator bit her arm and dragged her underwater. She survived after a nearby boater pulled her out and applied a tourniquet, but she lost the limb.
This comes after another woman lost her life while swimming in the Econlockhatchee River just north of Orlando after an alligator ripped her left arm from her body.
If you're living in Florida anytime from June to November, there's a very likely chance you'll experience a hurricane. But how likely is it that Florida will get hit by a hurricane this year?
According to Colorado State University's initial data, the 2026 forecast probability of a named storm impacting Florida was 44%, the highest among all states. However, forecasters have since significantly lowered the probability because of a slow season.
However, 1992 was a slow season until the first named storm formed in late August. It was Category 5 Hurricane Andrew.
Illinois Powerball winner has until Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, or 60 days from the date of the drawing, to claim the one-time lump-sum cash option. Otherwise, the winner has a year from the date of the draw for the annual payments. It varies in different states.
In Florida, you have 90 days for the cash option and six months to claim the annual payments, or the ticket expires.
Contributing: Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post
Samantha Neely is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, theme parks, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida's best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: See odds of winning Powerball compared to things Floridians experience