The Minnesota Lottery has attributed the delay to this week’s historic Powerball draw to the effect of ‘unprecedented lottery interest’ on its sales verification system.
The 41st draw in the run was due to be drawn on Monday night, featuring the highest jackpot in history.
However, the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) was forced to announce that it had been delayed due to accounting issues at a single participating lottery.
The lottery in question was not named but, following completion of the draw at 8.57am eastern US time on Tuesday, the Minnesota Lottery came forward to explain the reasons for the delay.
“After unprecedented lottery interest, Minnesota’s sales verification system caused a processing delay on Monday, November 7,” a statement on the Minnesota Lottery website read.
“The delay was necessary to confirm the Powerball drawing could be conducted securely and accurately.
“At no time was the integrity of the process compromised.”
The delay to the Powerball draw garnered significant media coverage but what followed helped to quickly overshadow proceedings.
A California Lottery player emerged victorious from the draw after matching all six numbers, becoming the highest jackpot winner-ever in the process.
The final jackpot reached $2.04bn, dwarfing the previous world record Powerball jackpot of $1.58bn in January 2016 and the Mega Millions record of $1.53bn, which was won in 2018.
