The Powerball Jackpot, now estimated at $1.5 billion, is quickly approaching a world record amount after 39 consecutive drawings produced no grand prize winner, lottery officials said.
Saturday night’s drawing will be the 40th Powerball drawing since the jackpot was last won in Pennsylvania on Aug. 3. According to a Powerball press release, the cash value of Saturday’s jackpot is $745.9 million.
If a player’s ticket matches all six numbers drawn on Saturday night, the jackpot will be the second-largest in Powerball’s 30-year history and the third-largest in US lottery history, trailing only the world record $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot in 2016 and the $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot in 2018.
If no one wins the jackpot on Saturday, it will tie the game record for the most consecutive drawings without a grand prize winner, according to Powerball.
Despite the fact that there was no jackpot winner in the most recent drawing on Wednesday night, over 7.2 million tickets won cash prizes totalling $74.9 million. According to Powerball, the overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9.
The jackpot grows in proportion to game sales and interest. However, the odds of winning the jackpot remain the same – 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball.
The money can be taken as an immediate cash lump sum or in 30 annual payments spread over 29 years for jackpot winners. According to Powerball, both advertised prize options are before federal and state taxes.
Tickets are $2 and are available in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. According to Powerball, more than half of all proceeds remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was purchased.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET, the Powerball drawing is broadcast live from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee. The drawings are also broadcast live on Powerball.com.
