They don’t call it the Golden State for nothing.
For the second time this month, a billion-dollar Powerball winner was revealed in California while the lottery’s current jackpot prize inches closer to the coveted 10-figure value.
Yanira Alvarez bought the winning $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot ticket at Las Palmitas Mini Market in Los Angeles for the July 19, 2023 drawing.
Alvarez’s winning numbers were 7, 10, 11, 13, 24, and the red Powerball 24.
Her monstrous win last July ended a 39-draw jackpot run for Powerball and was the first of two back-to-back billion-dollar winning tickets sold in California, the state’s lottery said, referring to Theodorus “Theo” Struyck’s historic win.
California state law mandates jackpot winners be named along with their location.
Alvarez declined to make any public comments along with the announcement.
Before Alvarez’s identity was revealed, the Las Palmitas Mini Market owners believed the winner was an elderly woman who lived near the store.
“Hispanic lady, an old lady,” the store manager’s stepdaughter, Angelica Menjivar, told The Post. “100% a Latina lady.”
The modest store is located in downtown Los Angeles’ Fashion District, owned by Maria Menjiva and her family since 2017.
Alvarez, whose age is not immediately known, had the option of taking the $1.08 billion, which paid out over 30 annual payments, or through a one-time cash value.
She opted for the one-time payment worth $558.1 before federal taxes.
“We can’t thank our players enough for their help in supporting California’s public schools,” California Lottery Director Harjinder K. Shergill Chima said. “Our mission is what drives us every day, and while jackpot prizes change lives for the big winners, they’re also making an important difference in the lives of students and teachers in classrooms across the state.”
Her win was the third-largest prize in the game’s history at the time of the drawing.
The $1.08 billion prize win now sits in fourth place on the record list after Struyck hit the jackpot in October with his $1.765 billion payday, according to Powerball.
On March 15, Struyck was announced as the representative to claim the win after the ticket was sold at Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, Calif.
The two stores are approximately 81 miles away from each other.
The California lottery uses the proceeds it earns through the drawing to raise funds for public schools in the state.
“Last year’s back-to-back giant jackpot sequences resulted in an estimated $197.9 million in additional funding for schools.”
Both wins still sit behind fellow statesman Edwin Castro’s historic $2.04 billion win back in Nov. 2022.
The Golden State claimed at least a share of the four largest Powerball jackpot wins in the lottery’s history.
In 2016, three tickets, one in California, Florida, and Texas, all matched all six numbers to win a $1.586 billion prize, the first at the time to be over $1 billion.
Powerball’s grand prize is set at an estimated $935 million with a cash value of $452.5 million.
The next drawing is Saturday evening at 11 p.m.
