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5th-largest cash value in US history

By Todd Northrop

This week lottery players across the United States will be pulling out all the stops to try and win Powerball, featuring one of the largest lottery jackpots in history, worth an estimated $640 million.

If you feel like it's been a long time since Powerball last had a jackpot winner you'd be right. The 34 consecutive drawings since the last winner on Sept. 16 is the longest stretch without a jackpot winner in the game's history.

All those drawings have accumulated a massive pile of cash, ready to provide multi-generational wealth to the lucky lottery player who wins it all.

Wednesday night when there were no Powerball jackpot winners, the new jackpot for Saturday's drawing was estimated at $640 million, with a lump-sum cash option of $478.7 million. Nearly a half-billion dollars in cash!

It is the 8th-largest lottery jackpot in world history, and the 5th-largest cash option ever offered.

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 Wednesday's drawing was $550 million, but by the time all the proceeds were counted just before draw-time, the jackpot had swelled to $556.7 million.

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. The newly-improved feature calculates both the initial withholdings and the final tax burden due at the end of the year, and even can show taxes calculated for different IRS filing statuses.

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.

Some states offer direct online sales too.  Michigan residents can bypass the store completely and buy Mega Millions tickets and Powerball tickets online.  Texas residents can buy Mega Millions tickets and Powerball tickets online too.  Oregon residents have options to buy Mega Millions tickets and Powerball tickets online as well.  Note that some of these links will only work properly for residents of the states mentioned.

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.

The winning numbers for Wednesday, January 13, 2021 were 4, 19, 23, 25, and 49, with Powerball number 14.  The Power Play number was 2.

Even though nobody won the jackpot Wednesday, 11 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 2 from California, 1 from Colorado, 1 from Georgia, 3 from Michigan, 1 from New York, 2 from Texas, and 1 from Virginia.

Only the player from Virginia purchased the Power Play option for an extra $1 per play, doubling their prize 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.

But even though Power Play is not available in California, the two second-prize winners in the state will split the $5.5 million in prize money that has accumulated over the 22 drawings without a second-prize winner in the state. Each winning ticket will be awarded $2,768,497.

Also in the Wednesday drawing, 83 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $50,000.  Of those tickets, 12 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $100,000, and 7 of the tickets were sold in California, where the prize was worth $33,076 this drawing.

Following the Wednesday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised $83.3 million from its previous amount of $556.7 million and the cash value was raised by $62.3 million from its previous amount of $416.4 million.

The next Powerball drawing will take place Saturday night at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.

Powerball is played in 45 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 8th-largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States, and the 5th-largest Powerball jackpot ever.  Brisk sales will almost certainly push the jackpot estimate higher by draw time.

1. Powerball: $1.5864 billion, Jan. 13, 2016 (19 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California, Florida, Tennessee
2. Mega Millions: $1.537 billion, Oct. 23, 2018 (25 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - South Carolina
3. Powerball: $768.4 million, Mar. 27, 2019 (25 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Wisconsin
4. Powerball: $758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Massachusetts
5. Mega Millions: $750 million, Jan. 15, 2021 (34 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
6. Powerball: $687.8 million, Oct. 27, 2018 (21 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Iowa, New York
7. Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 (18 rollovers, starting at $12 million) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
8. Powerball: $640 million, Jan. 16, 2021 (34 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
9. Mega Millions: $636 million, Dec. 17, 2013 (21 rollovers, starting at $12 million) - California, Georgia
10. Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 (13 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Florida
11. Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 (15 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Arizona, Missouri
12. Powerball: $564.1 million, Feb. 11, 2015 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
13. Powerball: $559.7 million, Jan. 6, 2018 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - New Hampshire
14. Mega Millions: $543 million, Jul. 24, 2018 (22 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California
15. Mega Millions: $536 million, Jul. 8, 2016 (34 rollovers, starting at $15 million) - Indiana
16. Mega Millions: $533 million, Mar. 30, 2018 (23 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - New Jersey
17. Mega Millions: $522 million, Jun. 7, 2019 (24 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California
18. Powerball: $487 million, Jul. 30, 2016 (23 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - New Hampshire
19. Powerball: $456.7 million, Mar. 17, 2018 (19 rollovers, starting at $15 million) - Pennsylvania
20. Mega Millions: $451 million, Jan. 5, 2018 (23 rollovers, starting at $15 million) - Florida
21. Powerball: $448.4 million, Aug. 7, 2013 (12 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
22. Powerball: $447.8 million, Jun. 10, 2017 (19 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California
23. Powerball: $435.3 million, Feb. 22, 2017 (18 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Indiana
24. Powerball: $429.6 million, May 7, 2016 (18 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - New Jersey
25. Powerball: $425.3 million, Feb. 19, 2014 (15 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California

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.

1. Powerball: $983.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2016 ($1.5864 billion annuity) - California, Florida, Tennessee
2. Mega Millions: $877.8 million cash, Oct. 23, 2018 ($1.537 billion annuity) - South Carolina
3. Mega Millions: $550.6 million cash, Jan. 15, 2021 ($750 million annuity) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
4. Powerball: $480.5 million cash, Aug. 23, 2017 ($758.7 million annuity) - Massachusetts
5. Powerball: $478.7 million cash, Jan. 16, 2021 ($640 million annuity) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
6. Powerball: $476.9 million cash, Mar. 27, 2019 ($768.4 million annuity) - Wisconsin
7. Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
8. Powerball: $396.2 million cash, Oct. 27, 2018 ($687.8 million annuity) - Iowa, New York
9. Powerball: $384.7 million cash, Nov. 28, 2012 ($587.5 million annuity) - Arizona, Missouri
10. Powerball: $381.1 million cash, Feb. 11, 2015 ($564.1 million annuity) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
11. Mega Millions: $378 million cash, Jul. 8, 2016 ($536 million annuity) - Indiana
12. Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013 ($590.5 million annuity) - Florida
13. Powerball: $352 million cash, Jan. 6, 2018 ($559.7 million annuity) - New Hampshire
14. Mega Millions: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013 ($636 million annuity) - California, Georgia
15. Mega Millions: $340 million cash, Jun. 7, 2019 ($522 million annuity) - California
16. Powerball: $336.8 million cash, Jul. 30, 2016 ($487 million annuity) - New Hampshire
17. Mega Millions: $324 million cash, Mar. 30, 2018 ($533 million annuity) - New Jersey
18. Mega Millions: $320.5 million cash, Jul. 24, 2018 ($543 million annuity) - California
19. Mega Millions: $319.9 million cash, Jun. 9, 2020 ($414 million annuity) - Arizona
20. Powerball: $284 million cash, May 7, 2016 ($429.6 million annuity) - New Jersey
21. Mega Millions: $281.9 million cash, Jan. 5, 2018 ($451 million annuity) - Florida
22. Powerball: $279.1 million cash, Jun. 10, 2017 ($447.8 million annuity) - California
23. Powerball: $276.5 million cash, Jan. 29, 2020 ($396.9 million annuity) - Florida
24. Powerball: $273.9 million cash, Mar. 17, 2018 ($456.7 million annuity) - Pennsylvania
25. Powerball: $263.5 million cash, Feb. 22, 2017 ($435.3 million annuity) - Indiana

The number of jackpot cash values in the top 25, by lottery game, are:

• Powerball: 15
• Mega Millions: 10