By Todd Northrop
Well, that was quick.
Less than 12 hours after the initial estimate for Saturday's Powerball jackpot was set early this morning, the already record-breaking grand prize has now increased to an estimated $700 million.
The jackpot's estimated cash value has also been increased to $428.4 million.
"Saturday's jackpot will be the largest jackpot of any U.S. lottery game on record. This is truly exciting and uncharted territory," said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery and chair of the Powerball game group. "We want to remind players to play responsibly and that it only takes one ticket to win."
Players should expect that the jackpot will increase again one or more times before the Saturday drawing, and unless standing in long lines can be considered "fun", players should buy their tickets early.
Saturday's jackpot started at $40 million on Nov. 7, 2015, and is the result of 18 drawings with no jackpot winner. Powerball jackpots start at $40 million and roll until the jackpot is won. Players win the jackpot by matching five numbers from a field of 69 numbers and one Powerball number from a field of 26 numbers. Drawings are conducted each Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.
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
Saturday's Powerball jackpot currently stands as the largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States — and in the world. The amount of the jackpot may rise even further before the drawing Saturday night, as lotteries are typically conservative in their initial estimates, and brisk sales will certainly continue to push the jackpot estimate higher by draw time.
If nobody wins Saturday... well, let's not even go there.
- Powerball: $700 million, Jan. 9, 2016 - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- 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: $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
For those keeping score, 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. The new Powerball jackpot ranks as the 2nd-highest lump-sum cash value jackpot in history.
- Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Powerball: $428.4 million cash, Jan. 9, 2016 ($700 million annuity) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- 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)
- 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
I just bought a couple of tickets for this drawing.
700 MILLION PLUS!!! I'm RICH B*TCH!!!
There is bound to be more than 1 jackpot winner.....one of them will be me!!!!
"Players should expect that the jackpot will increase again one or more times before the Saturday drawing, and unless standing in long lines can be considered "fun", players should buy their tickets early."
Yeah, Todd, they are low balling it for sure. It will beat the old record cash jackpot easily.
Hell, they know from last record jackpot sales amount that players can push this thing to around 531,900,000 cash or 869,100,000 annuity!
WOW! Thought somebody won it last night. 700 million dallas? God dam! Now I now it will roll into the billion dallas! I'm telling ya, this is the time! I wouldn't mind taking the annuity on this giant of a prize. My daughter can claim the rest of the money after I die. I just need the starting 5 million dallas to start my thing and live happily ever after. I can't have the pressure of dealing with so much money, trusting financial advisers with it, investors, etc. right off the bat. Would give me a heart attack. I need some heavy education in finances first.
I have noticed that when another top 25 jackpot win is made then Andrew Jackson "Jack" Whitaker will be pushed out. Either MM or PB. Jack is at #25 West Virginia 315.million.
David Lee Edwards was overtaken a few record jackpots ago.
Back to this Record-Breaking jackpot. $700 million!!!
I am sure that this upcoming exchange of posts between Todd, Terry Rich, and us lottery members will include a few words about this history making activity.
What a trillion dollars looks like with double stacked pallets. Wow, I can find room for it don't worry lol. 7 packets wide by 16 packets deep, with each packet being $10,000. 7 x 16 = 112 packets per layer 112 x $10,000 = $1,120,000 per layer. Also shows several other examples of a million, billion, etc. Hope to hit the Powerball soon for at least 5 pallets of almost a half of a billion lol. The little guy on the bottom left is an average sized person lol. A FARM of money baby! http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/calculations.html
it could be one or multiple winners
Goooooo GOOOOOO POWERBALL !!! U CAN DO IT!
I am about to have a POWERBALL FEVER !!!! :)
This is great.Somebody going to win soon,a ton of money.Well I had the powerball number,that was 12bucks,come on lottery gods,work ur magic 4me.Good Luck,my lotto post peeps.
How I will look when i see my ticket is a winner. Then at 1:00am when i find out im the single winner of the biggest jackpot of all time. Thank you for everyone for their donations towards my many Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, Bugatti Veyrons, and the big ass garage with a few bedrooms in it to store them. A month and a half in the bahamas should get me used to the 1% life real well.
I want a smart car
That jackpot is huge. I don't want to share with everyone! Sharing is caring what people say , but not in this case. If i do win , i might have to move to another country , to get away from the leaches ( family members , so called friends)!!
Don't, they have very little crumple zone.
In my Opinion I think that If powerball hit 500 million and no one wins, Money should be spread among second tier. Instead of one person winning the whole thing to him or herself. We all bought tickets to boost the sales, so it's only fair if everyone that bought a ticket get its share. Good luck to everyone
The website that sells tickets to residents from abroad is currently "down for maintenance".
Quite possible they are experiencing an enormous amount of traffic.
$700 Million Wooo Hoo!!!!
wow! Quite the announcement!
Heres wishing for a blessed winner .
Cold cash in hand .
Warm heart in deeds!
Haha, too bad Alabama won't see a penny of this. Gonna be a lot of Bama tags at the Pilot store in Tallapossa, GA.
I fell you
Please tell me you're kidding. You think people are shelling out their money so 700 people can become millionaires? If you really want fair then everyone who bought tickets should get something back. But because we're adults and not in little league where everyone is given a prize for participating, then the system as is is fair. You know what the game is and what the odds are. If you choose to still play, that's it. There are many games with much more frequent winners where max's are capped. Since MUSL doesnt have monopoly on gambling, no one should think it's unfair.
I love this comment. A blessed and warm hearted winner indeed.
Craziness...what are the odds of it reaching 1 billion by Saturday, I wonder.
True to that, hope they manage to buy all tickets, and scan them. Must be a hell of a job to do this work this week..
It'll get to a billion by Saturday judging by the huge line at my small town store. People are buying $20, 50, $100 worth of tickets. This is crazy. Everybody is talking about Powerball!
I 1000% agree with you on that. i want to see one winner just to make people mad. i spend my $2 to be the jackpot winner all other prizes are just nice to have but i go in either with the hope of millions of dollars or crap out.
Haha, there won't be much to spread around. This time there will likely be 75-100 5+0 winners I'd say.
The lotter websites is back.
Did you know Lotterypost websites crash last night for at least 30 minutes or more.
Good luck everyone.