Dreams of billions of dollars are within reach when the Power ball jackpot skyrockets to a whopping $1 billion after no winning tickets were sold in Monday night’s $900 million prize draw.
The new jackpot is the third highest in the country’s history and will continue to grow until a winner emerges. The next Powerball draw is Wednesday. Entrants have the option to win $1 billion paid out over multiple years or a one-time payment of $516.8 million before taxes.
The highest recorded Powerball jackpot to date was $2.04 billion in November 2022. The winning ticket was sold in California. The second highest jackpot was $1.6 billion in 2016, which was distributed three winners – a couple in California, a woman in Florida and a couple in Tennessee.
Despite the high payouts, buying a winning Powerball ticket has remarkably low odds of 1 in 292.2 million, per NPR.
Related: Woman Wins Lottery After Freeing Life Savings For Daughter’s Cancer Treatment: ‘The Best Winning Lottery Story’
The most recent Powerball jackpot win took place on April 19, with a top prize of almost $253 million. However, since then there have been 38 consecutive draws without a winner.
The Powerball jackpot was $900 million in Monday’s drawing. Michael Sandberg | Getty Images
Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Before the $1 billion Powerball draw on Wednesday, Mega Millions draws the $640 million jackpot on Tuesday. Winners will receive an annual payout or lump sum payment of $328 million in pre-tax cash.
While there was no Mega Millions jackpot winner in the latest drawing, South Carolina Lottery officials announced on Monday that someone bought a $2 million winning lottery ticket in Orangeburg, South Carolina at the Gaz-Bah gas station for Friday’s drawing. The ticket was purchased for $2.
The winning Mega Millions ticket matched all five numbers on the white balls drawn: 10, 24, 48, 51, 66 and the Megaball number 15. In addition, the winner chose to add the Megaplier option for an extra dollars, reducing the price because it was Megaplier number 2. The lucky person now has 180 days to claim their prize, lottery officials wrote in the release.
Related: Massachusetts father-son duo slammed with nearly 10 years in prison for committing ‘elaborate’ $20 million lottery scheme
