Powerball player wins $1.6 million in California. ‘We were freaking out’
A California man credits his girlfriend’s close encounter with a roadrunner for a nearly $1.6 million win in Powerball in September, the California State Lottery reported.
Joshua Schwartz of Tehachapi said he felt compelled to buy the tickets after a roadrunner burst into his girlfriend’s office at work and jumped on her desk, the lottery said in a Friday, Dec. 19, news release.
Roadrunners are a sign of good luck, Schwartz told lottery officials.
“She told me, ‘Babe, we gotta buy Powerball tickets,’” Schwartz said. “We were already planning them, but she said we really need to buy them now!”
He bought tickets for the Sept. 6 drawing at Love’s Travel Stop at 2000 E. Tehachapi Road, in Tehachapi, and began scanning them the day after the drawing.
“I was down to the last few tickets and thought, ‘We’re running out of chances here,” he said. “Then I scanned the next one and it just showed this huge number. We were freaking out.”
Schwartz described himself as an occasional Powerball player when the jackpot becomes large.
“I was talking to God and I was like, if I win this Powerball or even any amount that’s substantial, I will donate a very good amount of it to charity,” he said.
Schwartz said he plans to donate some of his winnings to charitable causes that are meaningful to him.
Tehahchapi is about 60 miles southeast of Bakersfield.
What is the Powerball jackpot up to now?
Nobody on Monday, Dec. 22, won the jackpot. It now rises to an estimated $1.7 billion, with a cash value of about $781.3 million, for the next drawing Wednesday, Dec. 24, the national Powerball site said.
The Powerball jackpot was last won Sept. 6, when players in Missouri and Texas split the nearly $1.8 billion grand prize.
How to play Powerball lottery game
To score a jackpot in Powerball, a player must match all five white balls and the red Powerball.
The odds of scoring the jackpot prize are 1 in 292,201,338.
Tickets can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times and prices vary by state. In California, the $2 ticket sales are cut off at 7 p.m. Pacific Time, the day of the drawing.
The Powerball jackpot grows until it is won.
When is the next Powerball drawing?
Powerball drawings are broadcast Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:59 p.m. Pacific Time and can be streamed online.
The next drawing will be Wednesday, Dec. 24.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This story was originally published December 22, 2025 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Powerball player wins $1.6 million in California. ‘We were freaking out’."