The Powerball jackpot has climbed to $1bn after no winners matched all six numbers in Monday night’s drawing.
On 17 July, players who purchased a Powerball ticket failed to pick the numbers five, eight, nine, 17 and 41 with a red Powerball of 21. The jackpot now stands at an estimated $1bn for the next drawing on Wednesday 19 July. According to Powerball, the multi-million-dollar prize currently ranks as the seventh largest US lottery jackpot and third largest Powerball jackpot.
However, there were more than 2.8m winning tickets nationwide in Monday night’s drawing. The top-winning tickets on Monday included five tickets that matched all five white balls to win $1m prizes. There were also 88 tickets that won $50,000 prizes and 28 tickets that won $200,000 prizes.
If a player matches all six numbers during Wednesday night’s drawing, they will have the option to take home the $1bn paid out over 30 years, or be given a cash lump sum option of $516.8m before taxes.
To play Powerball, players must pick five numbers between one and 69 and then choose one Powerball number between one to 26. The first five numbers drawn appear on the white balls, while the Powerball number is shown using a red ball. If a player has a ticket that matches all of the five winning numbers plus the Powerball number, then they win the jackpot.
However, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are one in 292.2 million.
Last November, the record-breaking $2bn Powerball jackpot went to California resident Edwin Castro, who bought his ticket at a gas station in Altadena outside of Los Angeles. He chose to accept the award as a lump sum, which meant he walked away with $997.6m before taxes. With his earnings, Castro reportedly purchased a $25m mansion in the wealthy California suburb of Hollywood Hills.
No one has won the Powerball jackpot since April, when an unidentified Ohio resident claimed the $252.6m prize. There have been 35 consecutive drawings without a winner since then, according to Powerball.
Those who are unlucky in the next Powerball drawing still have the chance to make it big with the Mega Millions jackpot, which is currently estimated at $720m. The Mega Millions winner has the option to take home a cash option of $369.6m. The next Mega Millions drawing is Friday 21 July at 11pm ET.
