Powerball jackpot balloons to $1.5 billion ahead of Saturday drawing – NBC News
That’s one hot ticket.
The Powerball jackpot grew to $1.6 billion after no winner was drawn Saturday night.
The prize, which has an upfront cash value of $735.3 million before taxes, is now the fourth largest in the Powerball history and the fifth largest among U.S. lottery jackpots.
The 45-drawing streak without a winner will continue after no one picked the winning numbers to take home Saturday’s $1.5 billion jackpot.
The $2 game, played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, underwent a series of changes over the last two decades intended to boost jackpots and appeal to a broader market of ticket buyers.
Since then, the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to the game’s organizers at the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Against those odds, the Powerball jackpot was last won just three months ago.
On Sept. 6, a $1.787 billion prize was split by ticket holders in Missouri and Texas. That jackpot was the second largest in Powerball history, surpassed only by the Nov. 7, 2022, jackpot of $2.04 billion, a world national lottery record.
The current drawing marks the second time in the history of the game that there have been consecutive jackpots worth over $1 billion, according to the association. The previous occurrence was in 2023.
The next drawing is scheduled for 10:59 p.m. ET Monday.
Dennis Romero contributed.
