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Powerball, the multistate lottery game that has produced five jackpots of more than $1 billion, has climbed to an estimated $950 million this week after Wednesday night’s drawing produced no winners.
“The Powerball jackpot rolled after no ticket matched all six number [s] drawn Wednesday night – white balls 9, 12, 22, 41, 61 and red Powerball 25,” the Multi-State Lottery Association said in a news release. “The Power Play multiplier was 4.”
The jackpot is now one of the largest in Powerball history and could top $1 billion before Saturday’s drawing.
Powerball jackpot history: See the top 10 record-breakers
All of Powerball’s 10 biggest jackpots have been won in the past nine years. Seven of those jackpots have occurred since Powerball moved to three drawings a week in 2021 (when the Monday drawing was added):
- $2.04 billion: Nov. 7, 2022, in California
- $1.765 billion: Oct. 11, 2023, in California
- $1.586 billion: Jan. 13, 2016, in California, Florida, and Tennessee
- $1.326 billion: April 6, 2024, in Oregon
- $1.08 billion: July 19, 2023, in California
- $950 million: Current jackpot
- $842.4 million: Jan. 1, 2024, in Michigan
- $768.4 million: March 27, 2019, in Wisconsin
- $758.7 million: Aug. 23, 2017, in Massachusetts
- $754.6 million: Feb. 6, 2023, in Washington
If Saturday’s drawing does not produce a winner, the jackpot will likely surpass the July 2023 prize and rank fifth all-time.
Your odds of winning Powerball vs. crazy everyday events
When a player buys a $2 Powerball ticket, the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to the lottery.
To put that in perspective, here are a few events that have better odds, according to Jeffrey Miecznikowski, a biostatistics professor at the University of Buffalo:
- Becoming president of the United States
- Flipping a coin and getting heads 27 times in a row
- A team making the Super Bowl in seven consecutive seasons
- A team winning the Super Bowl six consecutive times
- Picking a perfect March Madness bracket
Miecznikowski shared his insight ahead of the $1.586 billion jackpot in 2016. He explained why people might still feel compelled to buy a Powerball ticket despite the long odds. “It’s essentially impossible to win this and someone will say, well, Joe Smith of Florida won it, so it wasn’t impossible,” he said.
“That’s because of the improbability principle, which means that in the infinite number of events that happen in the world every day, something rare happens a lot. Unbelievably rare things happen every single day.”
Where to play Powerball: Your ticket to $950 million
Players can purchase Powerball tickets at licensed retailers or through third-party courier services such as Jackpocket and Lotto.com. Drawings are held Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern time.
