Only the 4th time in history a lottery jackpot has grown to $700 million+
By Todd Northrop
This week lottery players across the United States were pulling out all the stops to try and win Mega Millions, with one of the largest lottery jackpots in history, worth nearly $1.6 billion.
After that jackpot was won Tuesday night on a single lottery ticket purchased in South Carolina, attention has suddenly shifted to the USA's other big multi-state lottery game, Powerball.
Wednesday night when there were no Powerball jackpot winners, the new jackpot for Saturday's drawing was raised to $750 million, with a lump-sum cash option of $428.6 million.
It is the 4th-largest lottery jackpot in world history, and the 5th-largest cash option ever offered. It is also only the 4th time in history any lottery jackpot has crossed the $700 million mark.
With lottery jackpots cresting at historic levels for the last couple of weeks — longer than normal for a big jackpot run-up — it will be interesting to note if the volume of ticket sales is sustained.
Of course, any big winner (or winners) of Saturday's Powerball jackpot will have to pay taxes on their prize, so the website USA Mega has a handy Powerball Jackpot Analysis page available to calculate the federal and state taxes that would be withheld upon payout. (Additional taxes beyond what is shown in the analysis will likely be owed by the winner in April, depending on how the winner chooses to dispose of and invest their money.)
Players looking for a nearby lottery retailer — or that out-of-the-way retailer with a smaller line — are encouraged to use Lottery Places, the only app for iOS, Android, and Windows that can locate the nearest lottery retailers in every jurisdiction that sells Powerball and Mega Millions. The helpful app can locate lottery stores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, much of Canada, and the Caribbean.
Michigan lottery players also have the option of bypassing the store completely and buying Powerball lottery tickets online.
Players outside the USA can use a reputable butler service, which provides scanned copies of the purchased lottery tickets securely held on behalf of the customer. In the past, the lottery ticket service was used by people out side the USA to win big jackpots in Oregon and Florida.
Saturday's mammoth jackpot is the result of 21 consecutive draws without a winner. The run-up started as a $40 million prize on Aug. 15.
The winning numbers for Wednesday, October 24, 2018 were 3, 21, 45, 53, and 56, with Powerball number 22. The Power Play number was 2.
Even though nobody won the jackpot Wednesday, 7 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 1 from Arizona, 1 from Florida, 1 from Kentucky, 1 from New Jersey, 1 from New York, 1 from Oregon, and 1 from Wisconsin.
None of the second-prize winners purchased the Power Play option for an extra $1 per play. If they had, their second-prize win would have been automatically doubled 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 full chart of payout amounts can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts page at Lottery Post.
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. 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.
Also in the Wednesday drawing, 102 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 16 of the tickets were sold in California, where the prize was worth $20,428 this drawing.
Following the Wednesday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised a whopping $147.5 million from its previous amount of $602.5 million and the cash value was raised by $84.3 million from its previous amount of $344.3 million.
The next Powerball drawing will take place Saturday night at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.
Powerball is 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
Saturday's Powerball jackpot currently stands as the 4th-largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States, and the 3rd-largest Powerball jackpot ever. Brisk sales will almost certainly push the jackpot estimate higher by draw time.
- Powerball: $1.5864 billion, Jan. 13, 2016 - California, Florida, Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $1.537 billion, Oct. 23, 2018 - South Carolina
- Powerball: $758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017 - Massachusetts
- Powerball: $750 million, Oct. 27, 2018 - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Mega Millions: $636 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: $559.7 million, Jan. 6, 2018 - New Hampshire
- Mega Millions: $543 million, Jul. 24, 2018 - California
- Mega Millions: $536 million, Jul. 8, 2016 - Indiana
- Mega Millions: $533 million, Mar. 30, 2018 - New Jersey
- Powerball: $487 million, Jul. 30, 2016 - New Hampshire
- Powerball: $456.7 million, Mar. 17, 2018 - Pennsylvania
- Mega Millions: $451 million, Jan. 5, 2018 - Florida
- Powerball: $448.4 million, Aug. 7, 2013 - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
- Powerball: $447.8 million, Jun. 10, 2017 - California
- Powerball: $435.3 million, Feb. 22, 2017 - Indiana
- Powerball: $429.6 million, May 7, 2016 - New Jersey
- Powerball: $425.3 million, Feb. 19, 2014 - California
- Powerball: $420.9 million, Nov. 26, 2016 - Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $414 million, Mar. 18, 2014 - Florida, Maryland
- Powerball: $399.4 million, Sep. 18, 2013 - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $393 million, Aug. 11, 2017 - Illinois
The number of jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 16
- Mega Millions: 9
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 5th-largest cash value in U.S. history.
- 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
- Powerball: $480.5 million cash, Aug. 23, 2017 ($758.7 million annuity) - Massachusetts
- Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Powerball: $428.6 million cash, Oct. 27, 2018 ($750 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
- 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: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013 ($636 million annuity) - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $336.8 million cash, Jul. 30, 2016 ($487 million annuity) - New Hampshire
- Mega Millions: $324 million cash, Mar. 30, 2018 ($533 million annuity) - New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $320.5 million cash, Jul. 24, 2018 ($543 million annuity) - California
- Powerball: $284 million cash, May 7, 2016 ($429.6 million annuity) - New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $281.9 million cash, Jan. 5, 2018 ($451 million annuity) - Florida
- Powerball: $279.1 million cash, Jun. 10, 2017 ($447.8 million annuity) - California
- Powerball: $273.9 million cash, Mar. 17, 2018 ($456.7 million annuity) - Pennsylvania
- Powerball: $263.5 million cash, Feb. 22, 2017 ($435.3 million annuity) - Indiana
- Powerball: $258.2 million cash, Aug. 7, 2013 ($448.4 million annuity) - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
- Powerball: $254.7 million cash, Nov. 26, 2016 ($420.9 million annuity) - Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $246.5 million cash, Aug. 11, 2017 ($393 million annuity) - Illinois
- 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
The number of jackpot cash values in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 14
- Mega Millions: 11
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!
Just the first 5 numbers will do for me babeh...That’s what I am targeting..Already bought my 1 ticket using a strategy which yielded August 8,2018 Powerball draw
Thanks Todd for the top 20. It's changing rapidly.
I thought that Powerball wasn't going to give up without a fight. I was right!
Will I be the single ticket winner. Nah. I'm sitting this one out! I didn't win anything for this draw, so moving forward with nothing... Same as yesterday.
Good Luck to all players!
I think this Jackpot easily blows past Mavis Wanczyk's in August 2017 and goes to at least $775M.
There is no MM competition. It's for a Saturday drawing. 3rd largest Jackpot in history.
Not sure how burned out people are from playing both of these big jackpots in the last 7-10 days though?
Good chance it hits $1 BILLION on HALLOWEEN of all days if it rolls! Scary!
I had 1+PB for $4 so I will have at least 2 tickets for Saturday's PB draw.
Good luck to all players.
My sentiments exactly HT....5 tickets and only 1 correct number
It just said on a local radio show, that one of the $1 million tickets for MM in NC, she picked the lump sum, $423,000 after everything taken out...
so, if you had mega plier would that not be $423,000x3? Take home... it’s only one freaking dollar... :-( geez
There's no picking on lower tier prizes.
They are all....only cash. The only prize you get to choose is with the jackpot.
No, it said she could choose 50,000 a year...on the radio show...
That was not my question though...
it landed on x3
would that not be $423,000 x 3?
if you had mega plier
If you do the math, there are 11,238,513 possible combinations of five white balls. Multiply that by the 26 possible red balls, and you get 292,201,338 possible Powerball number combinations. At $2 per ticket, you'd need $584,402,676 to buy every single combination and guarantee a Win!
This is from the MM site:
Most states offer a Megaplier feature to increase non-jackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4 or 5 times; it costs an additional $1 per play. Before each Mega Millions drawing on Tuesday and Friday nights, the Megaplier is drawn. From a pool of 15 balls, five are marked with 2X, six with 3X, three with 4X and one with 5X. This mix results in the following odds for each of the Megaplier numbers and their associated prize values:
I don't know where the $423,000 amount comes from, but whatever the prize for a lower tier win would be multiplied by whatever the Megaplier number drawn.
$423,000 is after taxes on 2nd prize for NC...that’s what they said on the radio show...
NY might be different tax amount after taxes...
All lower tier prizes are lump sum only for PB and MM. She received about 550-600 thousand after taxes depending on what the tax rate is. If she paid the extra dollar (Which she didn't) then she would have received three times that amount.
Ok, the radio guys got it wrong, what they meant to say is $423,000 in taxes haha
So, $1,000,000 - $423,000?
Never listen to radio shows about odds and taxes and all that. My radio show was using the Powerball odds for Tuesdays mega million. I just casually laughed at them. But yes annuity is only for the jackpot.
That sounds about what it would be.
They lottery withholds 24% Federal taxes for the IRS and 5.499% for NC State taxes.
That totals 29.499% or $294,990 in taxes. She should have received approximately $705,010.
Don't forget, she has to claim this on her tax return come April 15th and pay the difference between what she owes and what they withheld.
Yeah right Stack. It's like being invited to a local party, and there are only two pretty girls there. Your advances are met with strong resistance from the one girl* MM, so you going after the other* PB- her bf beda****!
* Noticed that the 2nd prize PB payout in CA was $4 million- which no one won. Oh the horror!
Hope that Weshar75 is the one that bagged a cool million in Oregon.
1 million second price is just 1 million minus tax with no annuity option. So after both state and federal taxes NC winner is looking at $582k and change. So with megapliers x3 it’s $1,680,000 after all state and fed taxes paid. I won’t complain with that in my bank account.
Maybe it’s a scratch off ticket, if not the radio doesn’t know what they talking about.
They were talking about the NC 2nd prize mega winners ...
I concur!
Powerball: $750 million, Oct. 27, 2007
At this point, I might as well buy NJ Pick 6.
Yesterday, I played 12 lines that I won on MM and now I am thinking about put another $6 that I was going to put on PB. Having 18 lines for $23M with odds that have slightly more from 2nd prize of MM/PB isn't that bad.
Near record???
Oh wow, the Jackpot Junkies are having a double climax orgy right bout now.
It would be nice if they could start a new lottery titled "Billionaires Club" and decrease the white ball number to 60 and increase the white ball numbers to 40. That would be interesting.
@JADElottery,
Excellent description!
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This is an obvious 'pins and needles' psyops project by the MUSL.......
people couldn't wait for last Tuesdays MM drawing....now they can't wait for tomorrow night's PB drawing..
From where will Lottery get initial $1B? Maybe they can do it once JP reach that amount but you are putting too much trust on stores, employees and players are smart enough to follow one balls being drop. There is no way each weeks stores put in different slips each week or calming people that will ask for 52 if there is no 52 for that week.
This is USA we are talking about here.
Also great time to play Mega if you are happy with a putrid 15 mill or so after taxes lol
$13,860,000.00 to be exact. Pfft. Hardly worth it lol.
In last night's PB draw I won $4 and my Brother won $4 in Tuesday's MM draw, so today I bought 4 tickets for Saturday's PB draw and kicked in an extra $2 for one MM ticket too.
I'll take the $750 PB a starting MM $40mil jackpot. I'm not particular!
It would be x3 but none of the million dollar winners from that drawing bought the megaplier
.
OK, LET'S TRY THIS ONE, ONE MORE TIME, FOR THIS SATURDAY.
THE OTHER ONE WAS A RIP OFF.
ONE DOGGONE WINNING TICKET IN A 1 BILLY POT. WHAT'S THE REST OF US SUPPOSED TO DO?
FEW THINGS DISGUST ME TERRIBLY. THIS WAS ONE OF THEM.
I would be happy with $50,000 or the cool million myself.-weshar75
.
Weshar75,
I would be too. In my previous post, I was expressing my disgust that only 1 ticket, of the whole 1.6 billy pot, won.
Mr. Groppo
So, if this isn't won and it rolls, we are back to another 1B$ jackpot?
It sure would be under normal circumstances, but things got so weird with that MM jackpot estimate I'm sure that the "powers that be" will be extra conservative on their estimates going forward. Also, players so recently stunned by the staggering odds might be more reluctant to contribute to the next "frenzy."
I am predicting a $950M estimate for next Wed, Oct 31, but it will roll past $1B. Frenzy has turned into exhaustion for a little while. NEED BIG NUMBERS to excite the MASSES!
....yet Mr G, there are those out there well in this forum who advocate ONE winner, one winner who takes all the marbles. Thing is, these fine folk would like to think that the solo winner is going to be them, no "If's or but's". l on the otherhand, would rather roll the dice on having more than one winner,especially for this past MM, why? Cause one or two of the others,could have been us.There is just something wonderful about knowing that you a millionaire,you've arrived, finally came into your own,much like the other one or two..winners!
noise-gate,
Perhaps it's time to start Jackpot Claimers Anonymous
.
noise-gate, I said "1 ticket", not "1 winner".
At my last job, I ran a structured and notarized Lotto pool for 2 departments. 2, 3 or 50 persons could have been in on any of the tickets amassed for a particular draw. We never had 1 billy come up in my 5 years with the co.
I gather, when you say, "one winner who takes all the marbles", is supposed to mean, what? 1 [ ticket | winner ]?
I'd rather see multiple pools that have won, sharing it across, at least 150 or so people, for the record 1.6 billy we just witnessed (which is probably what happened, who knows? ).
Ideally, I'd like to think there were hundreds or so, in on Tuesday's winning draw.
I'd thought about maybe a sizeable gov't agency had run a pool, but anyway . . . .
I play hoping for only 1 mil. anyway.
Mr. Groppo
l know what you said, l was merely giving an opinion from my POV. For instance having one ticket "lately" does not translate into multiple winners. The last pool to win was from San Jose, in California and that came as a shock.l am going out on a limb here,by saying that l doubt a pool has claimed a jackpot since Gloria Mackenzie won. I am using her as the starting point. The Smith family from NJ does not qualify as a pool to me, since the Mother came up with the numbers & then split the winnings with her kids. Every jackpot won in the past few years have been with a single ticket & single winner.My post was based on that G.
* l stand to be corrected, nonetheless.
"WHAT'S THE REST OF US SUPPOSED TO DO?"
Nobody told you you couldn't play the numbers that were drawn, did they?
"at least 150 or so people"
That would be a whopping $10.25 million each if they took the annuity. Cash after federal taxes would be just under $3.7 million. If that's what you want to win you should play a game that offers that sort of prize or make sure you've got enough people in the pool you play in.
"if this isn't won and it rolls, we are back to another 1B$ jackpot?"
If it rolls there's certainly a very good chance. That we didn't see any kind of a bump on Thursday probably means sales haven't been good enough to suggest the 750 estimate is off by much, so I'm thinking anything over 800 on Saturday is unlikely. Getting from 750 or 800 to a billion would be a slam dunk if players hadn't just spent $1.6 billion on MM tickets in the last 2 weeks. Right now "likely" is the most I'll commit to.
Lotto "Fever" has turned into Lotto "Fatigue".
Sounds crazy doesn't it. But it's real and it does exist. Players in Pennsylvania proved Lotto Fatigue exists when The PA Lottery implemented four Millionaire Raffles per year. (It was originally two, then the PA Lottery added two more raffles per year.) Ticket sales were not as robust for all four drawings as they were when just two drawings per year were held, so The PA Lottery went back to having just two drawings. (Now they have ZERO raffles per year and players are asking "Why no Millionaire Raffles this year?")
The good news is Lotto Fatigue doesn't last very long. If this PB jackpot gets to 1 billion, the public will come back in droves.
On another note, does anyone know what percentage of unique combinations has been sold for the upcoming PB drawing? For the 1.6 Billion MM jackpot 75% of all combos were sold, which was why there was a winner. If 50% of the 295.5 million combo's has ben sold, then the chances of a JP winner being drawn is only 50/50. G5
Let's cheer on New Jersey for someone from LP to win New Jersey 6....like Todd, he deserves it.
Give Five, about 37% of all combinations will be covered for Saturday, October 27th. 63% chance it rolls to next Wed, and a jackpot of probably around $1B (for Halloween)! The Wed. jackpot will have about a 45% chance of rolling to Nov. 3rd and a new record jackpot of (hopefully)- $1.6B+ !!
Thanks. Did you get that number off The Web? Curious as to where you got it. G5
The Texas Lottery website has "projected calculations" for Powerball. It's also based on the Megamillions big run up and the odds it would get hit on the last few drawings. Good luck! We may have another $1.6B jackpot in 8 days!
Doesn't matter to me, this draw=My Birthday, next=My Sister's, one after that=My Son's! WOOHOO
WOULD = HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OF US ;-))
ANY of the above draws would be GREAT. I'd be Happy with Mid Six FIGURES Don't need all of IT.
My Lottery Dream home airs on HGTV tonight from 6pm EDT to 10pm EDT
It's kind of a let down as he is working with mostly lower $$$$ winners, like 1-7 million and they look at very conservative homes. I want some bling!
We need a plan B in the event of that 2nd tier prize.
Does it factor in a -$63 million fudge factor?
Major Lottery fatigue setting in! The PB jackpot for tomorrow is only going to be around $700M (over estimated by $40-50M)! The projected jackpot for Wed, Oct 31 is only $830M! People blew their wads and are now playing conservatively! lol