4th billion-dollar lottery jackpot this year
By Todd Northrop
For the fourth time in 2023, a lottery jackpot has reached $1 billion or more — twice with the Mega Millions game, and now twice with Powerball.
The latest billion-dollar jackpot of the year comes after nobody won last night's Powerball multi-state lottery drawing, sending the Monday jackpot to heights that once seemed unattainable for a lottery game.
Monday's Powerball jackpot is currently estimated at $1.04 billion, with a lump-sum cash value of $478.2 million. And based on past multi-state lottery jackpots, that estimate may get bigger by the time the drawing kicks off Monday night.
To get to this size, the jackpot has been growing since it started on July 22 as a $20 million prize — now 31 consecutive drawings without a winner.
Monday's $1.04 billion Powerball jackpot is the 4th-largest in the game's history, and the 9th-largest lottery jackpot in world history. The lump-sum cash value of $478.2 million is the 12th-largest on the all-time lottery jackpot cash value rankings (see full list below).
The largest Powerball jackpot ever awarded was on Nov. 7, 2022, when one ticket sold in California won a $2 billion grand prize. The incredibly lucky winner was Edwin Castro, who claimed the prize in February of 2023, providing minimal public information about himself. What little is known about Castro comes from public filings, and includes the purchases of houses one, two, and three, as well as being the subject of dubious lawsuits that are unfortunately predictable these days.
Lottery players dreaming what all the cash will look like in their bank account after federal and state taxes are taken out can see an after-tax analysis of the current Powerball jackpot by visiting USA Mega's Powerball Jackpot Analysis page. Rather than simply showing the initial withholdings a lottery winner would face like other "copy cat" websites, the Jackpot Analysis page also includes the additional taxes that will be due after the initial withholdings, and will even allow players to see the taxes due under different filing statuses.
The rush of ticket sales over the next few days likely will propel the jackpot to an even higher amount before the drawing takes place Monday. Lottery Post and USA Mega will update the jackpot tallies displayed if such an increase occurs.
The quickest way to find the winning numbers after the drawing Monday will be by visiting USA Mega (www.usamega.com) at 10:59 pm Eastern Time (7:59 pm Pacific), when the winning numbers will be published minutes after they are drawn.
Players looking for the nearest official lottery retailer — or maybe just a different store without such a long line — are urged to use the free Lottery Places app available for iOS, Android, and Windows. The app can find lottery stores in every Powerball state and can search across state lines — something even official state lotteries can't do.
Some states offer direct online sales, allowing players to bypass the store and purchase tickets from home. Players can see if they can play Powerball online by tapping the link. Depending on the physical location of the person, the link will either provide access via a licensed butler service or the official state lottery itself.
Butler services provide scanned copies of the purchased lottery tickets securely held on behalf of the customer. In the past, such lottery ticket services were used by people out side the USA to win big jackpots in Oregon and Florida.
In Saturday night's Powerball drawing, there was no jackpot winner, but 7 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 2 from Florida, 1 from Indiana, 1 from Maryland, 1 from Michigan, 1 from North Carolina, and 1 from Pennsylvania.
The two second-prize tickets sold in Indiana and North Carolina were purchased with the Power Play option, doubling their prizes to $2 million.
When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, a second-prize win is doubled and any other non-jackpot prize is multplied by the Power Play number drawn that evening. A complete list of prizes available for matching various numbers can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts and the Powerball Double Play Prize Payouts pages at Lottery Post.
The official drawing videos can also be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega.
The Power Play option is not available in California, because the fixed nature of the prize increase offered with the Power Play is not compatible with California's pari-mutuel payouts. By law, California awards all lottery prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning the prizes will change each drawing based on the number of tickets sold within California and the number of tickets that won at each prize level in the state.
Also in Saturday's drawing, a total of 64 tickets matched four of the first five numbers plus the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize. Of those tickets, 9 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $100,000, and 10 were sold in California, where the prize awarded this drawing is $19,025.
The Powerball winning numbers for Saturday, September 30, 2023, were 19, 30, 37, 44, and 46, with Powerball number 22. The Power Play number was 2.
The Saturday Double Play drawing results were 2, 22, 46, 56, and 67, with Powerball number 25. Double Play is a game option currently available in 18 states that lets you play your numbers in a second drawing for an extra $1 per play, with a chance to win up to $10 million in cash. See How to Play Powerball at USA Mega for more information about Double Play.
Following the Saturday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised $71.3 million from its previous amount of $968.7 million. The cash value was raised by $32.8 million from its previous amount of $445.4 million.
Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 pm 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
Monday's Powerball jackpot currently stands as the 9th-largest lottery jackpot in world history. That position may rise before the drawing, as lotteries are typically conservative in their initial estimates, and brisk sales may push the jackpot estimate higher by draw time.
- Powerball: $2.0401 billion, Nov. 7, 2022 (40 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
- Mega Millions: $1.602 billion, Aug. 8, 2023 (31 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Florida
- Powerball: $1.5864 billion, Jan. 13, 2016 (19 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California, Florida, Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $1.537 billion, Oct. 23, 2018 (25 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $1.348 billion, Jan. 13, 2023 (25 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Maine
- Mega Millions: $1.337 billion, Jul. 29, 2022 (29 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Illinois
- Powerball: $1.0798 billion, Jul. 19, 2023 (38 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
- Mega Millions: $1.05 billion, Jan. 22, 2021 (36 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Michigan
- Powerball: $1.04 billion, Oct. 2, 2023 (31 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Powerball: $768.4 million, Mar. 27, 2019 (25 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Wisconsin
- Powerball: $758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Massachusetts
- Powerball: $754.6 million, Feb. 6, 2023 (33 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Washington
- Powerball: $731.1 million, Jan. 20, 2021 (35 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Maryland
- Powerball: $699.8 million, Oct. 4, 2021 (40 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
- Powerball: $687.8 million, Oct. 27, 2018 (21 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Iowa, New York
- Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 (18 rollovers, starting at $12 million) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Mega Millions: $648 million, Dec. 17, 2013 (21 rollovers, starting at $12 million) - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $632.6 million, Jan 5, 2022 (39 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California, Wisconsin
- Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 (13 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Florida
- Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 (15 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $564.1 million, Feb. 11, 2015 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
- Powerball: $559.7 million, Jan. 6, 2018 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - New Hampshire
- Mega Millions: $543 million, Jul. 24, 2018 (22 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California
- Mega Millions: $536 million, Jul. 8, 2016 (34 rollovers, starting at $15 million) - Indiana
- Mega Millions: $533 million, Mar. 30, 2018 (23 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - New Jersey
For those keeping score, the number of jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 15
- Mega Millions: 10
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 6th-largest cash value in world history.
- Powerball: $997.6 million cash, Nov. 7, 2022 ($2.0401 billion annuity) - California
- Powerball: $983.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2016 ($1.5864 billion annuity) - California, Florida, Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $877.8 million cash, Oct. 23, 2018 ($1.537 billion annuity) - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $794.2 million cash, Aug. 8, 2023 ($1.602 billion annuity) - Florida
- Mega Millions: $780.5 million cash, Jul. 29, 2022 ($1.337 billion annuity) - Illinois
- Mega Millions: $776.6 million cash, Jan. 22, 2021 ($1.05 billion annuity) - Michigan
- Mega Millions: $723.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2023 ($1.348 billion annuity) - Maine
- Powerball: $558.1 million cash, Jul. 19, 2023 ($1.0798 billion annuity) - California
- Powerball: $546.8 million cash, Jan. 20, 2021 ($731.1 million annuity) - Maryland
- Powerball: $496 million cash, Oct. 4, 2021 ($699.8 million annuity) - California
- Powerball: $480.5 million cash, Aug. 23, 2017 ($758.7 million annuity) - Massachusetts
- Powerball: $478.2 million cash, Oct. 2, 2023 ($1.04 billion annuity) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Powerball: $477 million cash, Mar. 27, 2019 ($768.4 million annuity) - Wisconsin
- Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Powerball: $450.2 million cash, Jan. 5, 2022 ($632.6 million annuity) - California, Wisconsin
- Powerball: $407.2 million cash, Feb. 6, 2023 ($754.6 million annuity) - Washington
- Powerball: $396.2 million cash, Oct. 27, 2018 ($687.8 million annuity) - Iowa, New York
- 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
- Mega Millions: $378 million cash, Jul. 8, 2016 ($536 million annuity) - Indiana
- Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013 ($590.5 million annuity) - Florida
- Powerball: $352 million cash, Jan. 6, 2018 ($559.7 million annuity) - New Hampshire
- Mega Millions: $349.3 million cash, May 21, 2021 ($516 million annuity) - Pennsylvania
- Mega Millions: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013 ($648 million annuity) - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $341.7 million cash, Jul. 30, 2016 ($487 million annuity) - New Hampshire
The number of cash value jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 16
- Mega Millions: 9
I thought my moms bday numbers would repeat. mm years ago the 9 30 50 came out and I was shocked. Oh well, I think it beats 2016 record. We shall see.
I'm thinking it will roll on Monday....But, I will have to grab a couple of tickets for this one.
GOOD LUCK to all LP participants .......
I think the mega and powerball are rigged. It's ridiculous to have millions of tickets weeks in a row and they both roll to over a billion dollars. There is no way you will make me believe this isn't computer controlled.
Goodbye 1995 Honda Accord. Hello Maybach
with Mega Millions having 302,575,350 million possible combinations and
Powerball having 292,201,338 million possible combinations, these games are not designed to have a jackpot winner for several drawings,
example
Powerball it took 41 drawings for the jackpot to get to 2.04 billion 11/7/22
Powerball it took 20 drawings for the jackpot to get to 1.586 billion 1/13/16
Powerball it took 39 drawings for the jackpot to get to 1.08 billion 7/19/23
Powerball it took 27 drawings for the jackpot to get to 768.4 million 3/27/19
Powerball it took 22 drawings for the jackpot to get to 758.7 million 8/23/17
Mega Millions it took 33 drawings for the jackpot to get to 1.58 billion 8/8/23
Mega Millions it took 27 drawings for the jackpot to get to 1.537 billion 10/23/18
Mega Millions it took 26 drawings for the jackpot to get to 1.35 billion 1/13/23
Mega Millions it took 31 drawings for the jackpot to get to 1.337 billion 7/29/22
Mega Millions it took 37 drawings for the jackpot to get to 1.05 billion 1/22/21
2 bucks and a dream tomorrow night
It only takes ONE ticket to win. That's why I bought FIVE.
All with the Powerplay added.
Heck, two million is better than one!
Bring it on! I'm ready!
I bought 3 using 3 different systems to pick numbers and my wife bought 2 quickpicks, and we bought PowerPlay on all of them.
We're ready to win!
1 billion "massive jackpot" sounds nice, but in reality one would get only around $280 millions (after taxes).
[greedy lottery administrators take 50% of the jackpot].
I feel for the 10 in California who had 4+1 - not only did they just miss out on a life changing score, but because of the state's pari-mutuel laws they got less than half of anybody else who had 4+1.
It's not greedy lottery administrators taking 50%.
Watch this video produced by Lottery Post to find out more about Annuity vs Cash Value.
Ooh yeah, give me two million anytime.
I got my one PB ticket with power play and one MM ticket with the multiplier.
Am ready too 😁
Give me 100M, I won't complain at all 😁
Soon jj will tell us the winner is going to be in California and "It's always California".
At leasr thus far no one has jinxed themselves by claiming they will win it before the numbers are even drawn, but that will probably happen real soon.
I'm gonna win it. In California.
Powerball jackpot 1.04 billion
cash option 478,200,000 million
winning the jackpot it's treated as "income"
I read the tax rate can be as high at 37%
so that puts it at 301,266,000 million
still amazing money for a small wager
It is rigged but not in the way you think.
The odds of winning either jackpot in round numbers are 300,000,000 to 1. That is roughly one ticket per every American. Think of it that way. The lotteries like it that way because as the jackpots grow, that is more money for the states coffers, which is why states allow them in the first place.
Lastly, the larger the jackpot the greater reward for the state in which the winner is. California has a 12.3% income tax rate over $1,000,000 so if the current winner gets $478,200,000 for cash payment, and no one takes the annuity anymore due to the Communist clowns who run our country, California rakes in an additional $58,818,600.
My wife and I play as we would be very happy with an easier to win 2nd prize of $1,000,000. We have won 3rd prize in Powerball 12 years ago, so we know we can win. To us it is not rigged like Hot Lotto was, but I suppose it could be.
You do realize that the state of CA has no income tax for lottery winners ??
https://www.usamega.com/powerball/jackpot
https://lottolibrary.com/lottery-tax-calculator/USA/California
https://donotpay.com/learn/california-lottery-tax/
https://www.calottery.com/-/media/Project/calottery/PWS/PDFs/Winners-Handbook-1127-FINAL.pdf
Good luck tonight to all L.P. members who are participating in tonights draw
The reason jackpots rollover has everything to do with how many tickets are purchased, and something all lottery's call "coverage". The more tickets that are sold, the higher the number of all the possible combinations are "covered."
In Powerball there are 292.2 million possible combinations of 6 numbers. If 146.1 different combinations are sold, then the coverage is 50%. That also means there are 146.1 million combinations that are not sold. In this case there is a 50/50 chance the drawing will produce a jackpot winner.
The jackpots build causing lotto fever and more possible combinations of 6 numbers are sold raising coverage to 75% or higher. Of course jackpots can be won when there is just 25% of the combinations sold/covered, but it's much more likely the winning numbers drawn will come from the 75% of unsold combinations which causes a rollover and the jackpot to be raised. G5
Just so you're aware, that lottolibrary link you posted is wildly inaccurate. The state tax rates are wrong in many cases, and even the federal initial rate is wrong. And there is no accounting for what a winner's total tax bill will be.
Thanks Todd..will make a note !!
SoCola, that didn't take long, you jinxed yourself.
Lol I was being a smartass. I don't even live in California. Also I didn't buy tickets and I'm not superstitious at all.
Good luck to everyone tonight
I am doing my budget just in case I win tonight.
Budget
1. Spinach - $4
2. Tomatoes - $3
3. Bananas - $2
Looks like folks in California who win a lottery amount above 5k, pay federal income tax of "24%"
* 5? You gonna need at least 20. Just saying..
I ended up having 11 lines. I spent $32 (one ticket didn't have Powerplay) and won $8.
One of my tickets had the Power Ball number $4 x 2 = $8.
If no jackpot winner, I will try again on Wednesday.
Good luck to all.
Please God, let me win the lottery.....
3 lines, didn't match a single number. Will I keep trying? You bet!
It rolled to $1.2billion!
You have a right to your opinion. That's all I'm going to say. have a stupendous day.
Its going to go up more. Close to $2.7
Nah
maybe 1.5
Had the 27 and 43 on 1 line out of 6...oh well
Onward we go to Wednesday..... Good luck to all
My guess is 2.3 on oct 11
Probably in the next 1 or 2 drawings someone will win, because more millions and millions.... of people will play to get their chance of winning "1.20 billion dollars" which in turn will cover or come close to covering the 1 in 292,201,338 million combinations. And of course, most are not buying just 1 ticket. Say for example 50 million people play and they each spend 10 dollars, that is 500 million dollars so that is 250 million possible combinations played. That is over 85% of possible combinations. The GA lottery website was down yesterday evening so a lot could not play. (Notice that these lottery systems never let the general public know how many tickets were purchased for a particular drawing)
Only 2 people each won 1 million dollars and another 2 people each won 2 million dollars. There are 11,688,054 million possible combinations.
This is why it makes sense to play for second place and to add The PowerPlay option-
Only 2 people each won 1 million dollars and another 2 people each won 2 million dollars. There are 11,688,054 million possible combinations.
While I'm sure those two million dollars winners are very happy, they also have to feel a bit chagrined that they didn't spend an extra buck on the PowerPlay option. The 2 that bought The PowerPlay dont have that problem.
And..... you couldn't be more correct if you had to be. 85% coverage almost always produces one or possibly two jackpot winners G5
"that is 500 million dollars so that is 250 million possible combinations played. That is over 85% of possible combinations. "
That's not how it works. If people spend a total of $500 million they buy 250 million tickets (ignoring money towards power play), but a lot of combinations will be repeated. The result is that selling 250 million tickets results in something less than 57.5% of combinations being in play. If all of the tickets were selected randomly it would be almost exactly 57.5%, but because a lot of people use calendar numbers or play patterns and fortune cookie numbers there are more duplicated combinations than would result from random probability.
"85% coverage almost always produces one or possibly two jackpot winners "
Yes and no. Selling 85% of combinations results in about a 28.4% chance of a single winner and a 56.6% chance of multiple winners, but so far there's only been one drawing with 85% of the combinations in play. The January 2016 drawing for the $1.6 billion PB sold about 630 million tickets, which used about 88% of possible combinations (again ignoring the excess repeats dues to calendar numbers, etc.).
There is no data that says power play increases your odds of winning. If you happen to win, all it does is double your winnings. But with a game with first-place jackpot odds of 1 line to 292,201,338 million possible combinations and second-place odds of 1 line to 11,688,054 million possible combinations and third-place odds of 1 line to 913,129 thousand possible combinations.
Let's look at the last PB payouts,
70 people won the third-place prize of 50k, but only 12 won the power play (double bet play) of 100k. No doubt 100k is better than 50k. But those other 58 people did not do power play, instead spent the money to buy more lines, which increased their odds of winning the 50k! if they did not go that route they would not have won the 50k! I rather buy more lines to increase my odds on the third-place prize. Or spend my money on Fantasy 5 which has better first place odds and a higher payout!
O and those 2 folks that each won a million, they probably bought 100 lines or more, which is 200 dollars, but if they went the power play route that would be 400 dollars!! O and btw if I won 1 million dollars? I am good, no stress that "I could have won 2 million" No! I don't put those thoughts in my mind when playing low wager, high reward chance lottery!
Good luck all!!
u folks want some good laughs? google the odds of being struck by lightning, google the odds of a plan crash? google the once-in-a-blue-moon occurrences and compare it to the PB and MM odds! o yea I play them but just for fun, with no expectations, and that goes for all lottery games! Good luck!