Powerball Jackpot Hits $700M, Lottery Game’s Fifth-Largest Prize Ever

The Powerball jackpot for Wednesday night s drawing is an estimated $700 million, which is the lottery game s fifth-largest all-time prize. Powerball began in April 1992.

The Powerball jackpot for the October 26 drawing is an estimated $700 million, with a cash option of $335.7 million. No Powerball ticket has matched all six winning numbers in 83 days. (Image: AP)

No ticket matched Powerball s five white balls and red Powerball during Monday night s drawing. The last time a ticket hit all six numbers was on August 3, when a player in Pennsylvania snagged the $206.9 million jackpot.

The estimated $700 million jackpot for the Wednesday, October 26 drawing comes after 35 drawings went without a ticket successfully matching all six winning numbers. Despite the winless streak, the jackpot odds for each ticket tomorrow remain a dismal one in 292.2 million.

If a ticket hits the jackpot on Wednesday, the lucky winner(s) will have a pre-tax lump cash option of $335.7 million. Along with cracking Powerball s five largest jackpots ever, the $700 million prize ranks as the eighth-largest lottery jackpot in the history of the United States.

Play Surges

Interest in Powerball and Mega Millions increases greatly when the jackpot climbs to . And when more players purchase $2 Powerball tickets, more six-number combinations are covered for the draw. That slightly shortens the odds of at least one ticket hitting the six balls drawn from the Powerball machines.

Wednesday s drawing has already greatly exceeded sales expectations. The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which facilitates Powerball, initially projected the October 26 Powerball jackpot to be approximately $680 million. Because of strong sales, MUSL officials have increased the projected bounty to $700 million.

Each ticket has nine ways to win. On Monday night, more than 1.2 million tickets won a prize.

The majority 675,217 winning tickets simply matched the red Powerball to double their $2 bet. But 161,702 of those tickets had the optional $1 add-on Power Play that quadrupled their prize after the Power Play turned up 4x during the drawing.

The top prize won Monday night was a winning ticket sold in Texas that matched all five white balls to win $1 million. Other notable wins include 32 tickets that matched four white balls and the red Powerball for $50K wins. Ten other tickets also matched four white balls and the Powerball, but additionally purchased the $1 Power Play to take their wins to $200K each.

Five Powerball jackpots have been won this year.

2022 Drawing Date Jackpot Won WinnersJanuary 5 $632.6M 2 (California, Wisconsin)February 14 $185.3M 1 (Connecticut)April 27 $473.1M 1 (Arizona)June 29 $366.7M 1 (Vermont)August 3 $206.9M 1 (Pennsylvania)Top-10 Lottery Jackpots

The current Powerball jackpot has already solidified its position on the top-10 lottery jackpot list in US history. The richest lottery prize ever won came in January 2016 when three winners in California, Florida, and Tennessee shared a more than $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot.

The largest single win in US lottery history came via Mega Millions in October 2018 when a player in South Carolina was the lone .

At $700 million, Wednesday s Powerball jackpot is still less than halfway to becoming the largest lottery prize ever won in the US.