7th-largest cash value in US history
By Todd Northrop
This week Powerball will be the hot ticket, featuring a jackpot larger than any other United States lottery drawing in almost a year.
The new high-water mark of $400 million for the current Powerball jackpot was achieved after no winning tickets were sold for Saturday night's $355.8 million grand prize.
The lump-sum cash payout value of Wednesday's Powerball jackpot is $244.8 million — the 7th-largest ever recorded in United States lottery history. (See top 25 annuity and cash values below.)
Players looking to calculate what they would receive after the initial federal and state tax withholdings can find it all pre-calculated for each Powerball jurisdiction on the Jackpot Analysis page at USA Mega, a web site devoted to the Powerball and Mega Millions multi-state lottery games.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever awarded was on May 18, 2013, when Gloria C. MacKenzie of Zephyrhills, Florida, held the solitary winning ticket for a grand prize worth nearly $600 million (see Winner of record $590.5 million Powerball lottery jackpot announced, Lottery Post, June 5, 2013).
Players should note that jackpot amounts are conservative estimates provided by the lotteries, and are often somewhat higher by the time the drawing occurs. For example, the original estimate for Saturday's drawing was $334 million, but by the time all the proceeds were counted just before draw-time, the jackpot had swelled to $355.8 million.
The mammoth prize is the result of 18 consecutive draws without a winner. The run-up started as a $40 million prize on Nov. 7, 2015.
The winning numbers for Saturday, January 2, 2016 were 5, 6, 15, 29, and 42 , with Powerball number 10. The Power Play number was 2.
Even though nobody won the jackpot Saturday, 4 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 1 from California, 1 from Connecticut, 1 from Pennsylvania, and 1 from South Carolina.
The California second-prize winner will be awarded $424,422, because California does not award fixed prizes. By law, California awards all prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning the prizes will change each drawing based on the number of tickets sold and the number of tickets that won at each prize level.
Only one of the second-prize winners purchased the Power Play option — the ticket sold in Pennsylvania. Because that ticket was purchased with the Power Play option, their second-prize win is automatically doubled to $2 million. Power Play is not available in California, because the fixed nature of the prize increase offered in Power Play is not compatible with California's pari-mutuel payouts.
75 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $50,000. Of those tickets, 13 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $100,000, and 3 of the tickets were sold in California, where the prize was worth $36,217 this drawing.
Following the Saturday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised $44.2 million from its previous amount of $355.8 million. The cash value was raised by $26.4 million from its previous amount of $218.4 million.
The next Powerball drawing will take place Wednesday night at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.
When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, any non-jackpot prize is increased according to a fixed prize schedule, which can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts page at Lottery Post.
Powerball is now played in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
Top 25 United States lottery jackpots of all time
Wednesday's Powerball jackpot currently stands tied for the 9th-largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States. That position may rise before the drawing Saturday night, as lotteries are typically conservative in their initial estimates, and brisk sales may push the jackpot estimate higher by draw time.
- Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Mega Millions: $648 million, Dec. 17, 2013 - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 - Florida
- Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 - Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $564.1 million, Feb. 11, 2015 - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
- Powerball: $448.4 million, Aug. 7, 2013 - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
- Powerball: $425.3 million, Feb. 19, 2014 - California
- Mega Millions: $414 million, Mar. 18, 2014 - Florida, Maryland
- Powerball: $400 million, Jan. 6, 2016 - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Powerball: $399.4 million, Sep. 18, 2013 - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $390 million, Mar. 6, 2007 - Georgia, New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $380 million, Jan. 4, 2011 - Idaho, Washington
- Powerball: $365 million, Feb. 18, 2006 - Nebraska
- The Big Game: $363 million, May 9, 2000 - Illinois, Michigan
- Powerball: $340 million, Oct. 19, 2005 - Oregon
- Powerball: $338.3 million, Mar. 23, 2013 - New Jersey
- Powerball: $337 million, Aug. 15, 2012 - Michigan
- Powerball: $336.4 million, Feb. 11, 2012 - Rhode Island
- Mega Millions: $336 million, Aug. 28, 2009 - California, New York
- The Big Game: $331 million, Apr. 16, 2002 - Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $330 million, Aug. 31, 2007 - Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia
- Mega Millions: $326 million, Nov. 4, 2014 - New York
- Mega Millions: $319 million, Mar. 25, 2011 - New York
- Mega Millions: $315 million, Nov. 15, 2005 - California
- Powerball: $314.9 million, Dec. 25, 2002 - West Virginia
The number of jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 13
- Mega Millions: 10
- The Big Game: 2
The Big Game is the original name of Mega Millions, from the game's first drawing on Sep. 6, 1996 through May 14, 2002. The name was changed to Mega Millions starting with the May 17, 2002 drawing.
Top 25 cash value jackpots
Since many lottery winners collect their winnings in cash, the lump-sum payout is an important measure of what a winning ticket could be worth.
Looking at the cash value, the upcoming Powerball jackpot ranks as the 7th-largest cash value in U.S. history.
- Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Powerball: $384.7 million cash, Nov. 28, 2012 ($587.5 million annuity) - Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $381.1 million cash, Feb. 11, 2015 ($564.1 million annuity) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
- Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013 ($590.5 million annuity) - Florida
- Mega Millions: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013 ($648 million annuity) - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $258.2 million cash, Aug. 7, 2013 ($448.4 million annuity) - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
- Powerball: $244.8 million cash, Jan. 6, 2016 ($400 million annuity) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Mega Millions: $240 million cash, Jan. 4, 2011 ($380 million annuity) - Idaho, Washington
- Mega Millions: $233.1 million cash, Mar. 6, 2007 ($390 million annuity) - Georgia, New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $230.9 million cash, Mar. 18, 2014 ($414 million annuity) - Florida, Maryland
- Powerball: $227.8 million cash, Feb. 19, 2014 ($425.3 million annuity) - California
- Powerball: $224.7 million cash, Aug. 15, 2012 ($337 million annuity) - Michigan
- Powerball: $223.3 million cash, Sep. 18, 2013 ($399.4 million annuity) - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $214 million cash, Aug. 28, 2009 ($336 million annuity) - California, New York
- Powerball: $211 million cash, Mar. 23, 2013 ($338.3 million annuity) - New Jersey
- Powerball: $210 million cash, Feb. 11, 2012 ($336.4 million annuity) - Rhode Island
- Mega Millions: $202.9 million cash, Mar. 25, 2011 ($319 million annuity) - New York
- Mega Millions: $197.5 million cash, Nov. 4, 2014 ($326 million annuity) - New York
- Powerball: $197.4 million cash, Sep. 30, 2015 ($310.5 million annuity) - Michigan
- Mega Millions: $194.4 million cash, Aug. 31, 2007 ($330 million annuity) - Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia
- Mega Millions: $185 million cash, Nov. 15, 2005 ($315 million annuity) - California
- The Big Game: $180 million cash, May 9, 2000 ($363 million annuity) - Illinois, Michigan
- Mega Millions: $177.3 million cash, Jan. 16, 2015 ($270 million annuity) - Illinois
- Powerball: $177.3 million cash, Feb. 18, 2006 ($365 million annuity) - Nebraska
- Powerball: $170.5 million cash, Dec. 25, 2002 ($314.9 million annuity) - West Virginia
The number of jackpot cash values in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 13
- Mega Millions: 11
- The Big Game: 1
$2 Investment Turned Into $400 Million.
$400 million Woo Hoo good luck everyone.......
Love reading the comments when the jackpots get sky high!
'Poor' California PB 5 out of 6 and just over $424K, para-mutuel benefits that state only in most cases!
$400,000,000
I think that I will make a small wager
May God Bless the winner or winners.
Many people like you and me will jump into this Wager hoping to be the winner !!!
GOOD LUCK FELLOW POWERBALLIONS!!!!
I A GOING TO BUY FOR 3 CONSECUTIVE DRAWS AND SLEEP SOUNDLY!!!
NEXT EVEN MEGA MILLION IS CREEPING TOO AT SLOW PACE IT IS ALSO 147 MILLION TOO
I am expecting a "foreign" player to win this current Powerball jackpot run and make history...Watch this space.
400M$ fabulous!
Wow... it rolled
You Have to Be In It to Win It!
OK.. Here comes the lottery fever... With the new odds { 1 in 294million} lets see how many more times it's going to roll..
Yes, this time the winner will be from Sweden!
I would like to see it punch through $500 million and if it goes on to 1 billion that would be perfect.
A blind man can feel an elephant but, he still doesn't know what it is.
The 11-month wait is over. LOL
The odds of 1 in 292,201,338 are bad enough, please don't make them even worse.
Yes, I'm doing that right now.
I would settle for a cool million dollars myself that would put me sweet in the money.-weshar75
They need to sell about 615 million more tickets ($1.23 billion sales) to reach a billion from the current pool
I am thinking the progression will go $450M, $600M, $800M, $1B if it can continue. The $1B mark will be at least the 96th percentile, which means on average we can expect a winner prior to or in this drawing 96% of the time. The 99th percentile would bring a jackpot of $1.5B
Is this how I calculate the odds that a winning ticket will be sold?
(1/292,201,338)x(# of tickets sold)
Example
(0.00000000342466)x(100,000,000)=.34 or 34%
1 - e^-(tickets/combinations)
100000000/292201338 = 0.342229781
e = 2.718281828459...
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_(mathematical_constant)
1- e^(-0.342229781) = 0.2898150013
28.98% chance of winner(s)
This is how MUSL calculates. Simply multiplying odds by tickets gives an approximation but does not factor in duplicate tickets
Thanks!
It's going to a billion!
Me too
I not only dream of winning this like others. I also have a plan in place waiting to activate it!
"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you will fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? NOTHING!" Jim Rohn
What a great time to slip out the back door, unnoticed, with that $88 Million cash MM jackpot!
That's a good one. Welcome to Lottery Post.
Okay. I'm in. $400 mil come to daddy.
Win and disappear
$400M? That's Beautiful!!
Jarmila Gajdosova professional tennis player.
Anyone think by draw time the jackpot will be more like 425 mill? Last draw went up 54 mill and I think it is now on more people's radar and frequent players will buy more tickets.
Before this weekend the sales estimate for Wednesday was $130 million, I think it will be $180 million which would bring the annuity to $450M. We'll see
How the mighty have fallen.
Just under a year ago PB jumped from 395 to 564. Just over 2 years ago MM went from 400 to 636, and just under 4 years ago MM went from 393 to 656. I'd hope that 400+ is where sales will start to increase significantly, but who knows?
Hi and Happy New Year everyone!
With all the excitiment, I love reading the comments too! Everyone's excited!
(Comments that are uplifting and encouraging towards each other...you can never have too much of that!)
The possibility that my ticket, which currently has a $2 value, is worth $400m....Yep!!! Praise the Lord and Let the fun begin!!!
Hope you all have a safe and blessed 2016!
Yeah bring it!
Yikes, are all these directly from draw-to-draw?
With 54 million tickets sold, the chances of having a jackpot winner was around 20%, but sales were slightly higher than the last two $300 million plus jackpots. As you said historically "jackpot frenzy" usually starts at $400 million, but sales need to double to get a 50% chance of a jackpot winner.
Happy new year everyone!, hopefully it will be a great start for one of us on Wednesday
I just saw on CNN Morning Show a short piece about this $400 Million jackpot. The word is spreading like wildfire. They showed a clip of Gloria C. Mackenzie the Florida winner of Power Ball jackpot worth $590,500,000.00. She was walking toward her car after validating her ticket.
Good Luck everybody!!
Hopin it rolls to $1,000,000,000!
I think it will because I believe it will not be won until EVERY possible number combination is sold.
Another problem w/ winning a big JP.
Every time the JP gets in record territory your name gets mentioned again.
The scammers couldn't forget you if they wanted, they're just reminded to give you another try.
That's when I buy my next ticket.
Which is why unless you have the option of anonymity you should change your name.
Jack Hoffman anyone?
Will take whatever lady luck gives me. That is 5/6 with powerplay :).
Since the new change come to powerball there has been lot of draw but the 10x powerplay option has not been added
I will just buy 1 or 2 ticks with powerplay options and stick with Megamillions at least odds are okay there. But good luck to everyone buying tickets.
Multiple winners will be great.
I know a lot of people that still wouldn't play.