Powerball jackpot surges to an estimated $1.3 billion after no big winner Wednesday
By Dalia Faheid, CNN
(CNN) — The Powerball jackpot has skyrocketed to an estimated $1.3 billion after yet another lottery drawing yielded no grand prize winner Wednesday night.
Wednesday’s winning numbers were: 11, 62, 65, 38, 41 and Powerball 15.
For the next Powerball drawing on Saturday night, a lucky winner can choose to receive the prize in annuitized payments or take a lump sum estimated at $608.9 million.
After no tickets matched all six numbers in Wednesday night’s drawing, the jackpot jumped from $1.09 billion to $1.3 billion – the fourth largest jackpot in the Powerball game. That makes it the eighth largest US lottery jackpot, ranking over the $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot that was won in New Jersey last week.
Despite no tickets winning the grand prize on Wednesday night, nine players matched five of the numbers, snagging $1 million prizes each. Those tickets were sold in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina and Washington.
This has been one of the game’s longest streaks without a jackpot winner, according to Powerball.
It’s been three months since Powerball’s grand prize was last won. On New Year’s Day, a ticket in Michigan scored an $842.4 million jackpot. Since then, 40 consecutive drawings have taken place without a jackpot winner, according to Powerball.
If there’s no jackpot winner on Saturday, it would tie for the most consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner. Only two other Powerball jackpot runs have previously reached 41 drawings before there was a jackpot winner, according to the lottery.
The largest Powerball jackpot – and the largest US lottery prize – ever won was $2.04 billion by a ticket purchased in California in November 2022, according to the lottery. Ranking second through fourth are $1.765 billion (one ticket in California, 2023); $1.586 billion (three tickets, 2016); and $1.08 billion (one ticket in California, 2023).
Winning the Powerball jackpot means a ticket matched all five white balls plus the red Powerball. The odds of winning any prize in a Powerball drawing are 1 in 24.9, and the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to the lottery.
Powerball tickets cost $2 per play and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Drawings are held Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. ET in Tallahassee, Florida.
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