The Powerball jackpot is expected to rise to $1.9 billion for Monday’s drawing, according to the California Lottery, making it the largest lotto prize ever offered — just as organizers intended when they changed the odds in 2015.
No winning tickets were sold for Saturday’s $1.6 billion drawing, already the highest lotto prize ever offered. The last Powerball jackpot was won on August 3 in Pennsylvania.
This jackpot value is the amount a winner would receive if they took 30 annual installments, although the winner can also choose the cash option to receive a single lump sum of a smaller value. For the $1.9 billion jackpot, the winner can choose between receiving 30 equal payments of about $63 million a year or receiving a lump sum of about $929 million.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever won was in January 2016, when three winners shared a prize advertised at $1.586 billion. Each took their share of the cash value, which totaled $983.5 million.
Yes, that means the cash value of the current “record” jackpot of $1.9 billion is less than the cash value of the $1.586 billion jackpot six years ago. You can thank the Federal Reserve’s recent rate hikes for that difference.
Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 PM ET.
Powerball is played by charging $2 per ticket and having players choose five white balls from the numbers 1 to 69 and one red Powerball from the numbers 1 to 26. If a player gets all six numbers correct, they win the huge jackpot.
The odds of winning the jackpot by matching all 5 numbers and the Powerball number are one in 292.2 million.
Prior to 2015, however, the white balls were numbered from 1 to 59 and the Powerball was from 1 to 35. The change means that players now have a better chance of winning small prizes, but a worse chance of hitting the jackpot , making it more likely that the large number will grow to record sizes.
“This Powerball game delivers exactly what our players want,” Powerball Product Group President Drew Svitko said in a statement ahead of Saturday’s drawing. “We’re witnessing history being made with this $1.6 billion jackpot! What’s also exciting is that this route has already produced millions of winners, including nearly 100 players who have won prizes worth $1 million or more.”
