9th-largest jackpot in US history
By Todd Northrop
This week Powerball is the hot ticket, featuring a massive jackpot that is approaching a billion dollars.
The new high-water mark of $835 million for the current Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was achieved after no winning tickets were sold for Monday night's $793.6 million grand prize.
It is the 9th-highest lottery jackpot in history, and the 4th-largest Powerball jackpot ever.
The lump-sum cash payout value of Wednesday's Powerball jackpot is $390.4 million — the 17th-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 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 house one, two, and three, as well as being the subject of dubious lawsuits that are unfortunately predictable these days.
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 Monday's drawing was $785 million, but by the time all the proceeds were counted just before draw-time, the jackpot had swelled to $793.6 million.
Wednesday's mammoth prize is the result of 29 consecutive draws without a winner. The run-up started as a $20 million prize on July 22.
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.
The winning numbers for Monday, Sep. 25, 2023 were 10, 12, 22, 36, and 50, with Powerball number 4. The Power Play number was 2.
The Monday Double Play drawing results were 5, 16, 18, 38, and 40, with Powerball number 19. 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 and a list of states that offer the add-on game.
Even though nobody won the jackpot Monday, 4 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 3 from Florida and 1 from Oregon. None of the second-prize winners purchased the Power Play option. If they had, their prize would have been increased 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.
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 Monday drawing, 38 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $50,000. Of those tickets, 6 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $100,000, and 2 of the tickets was sold in California, where the prize was worth $43,646 this drawing.
Following the Monday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised $41.4 million from its previous amount of $793.6 million and the cash value was raised by $19.4 million from its previous amount of $371 million.
The next Powerball drawing will take place Wednesday 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 Mondays, 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 as the 9th-largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States. That position is unlikely to change before draw-time, since the next-highest jackpot is more than $1 billion.
- 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: $835 million, Sep. 27, 2023 (29 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
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.
The upcoming Powerball jackpot ranks as the 17th-largest cash value in U.S. 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: $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: $390.4 million cash, Sep. 27, 2023 ($835 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: $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 jackpot cash values in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 16
- Mega Millions: 9
I really need to hit this tomorrow. Real bad.
Both MegaMillions and Powerball love high interest rates. Two years ago this month, a $390M cash payout would have had an advertised jackpot of about $540M (almost $300M less than Wednesday's advertised amount).
Personally, I think lotteries should be required to advertise the cash payout (with a note indicating what the winner would get if he/she took a 30-year payout). But I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
It is a nice $$ figure to take home(Cash Value)....Bit disappointing on the ratio being under 47%. Marketing ploys are enticing aren't they ?? Good luck to all of the LP folks that are participating tomorrow nights draw.(or tonight if you are in the MM draw)
Totally agreed !They must learn the way the rest of the world doing about lotteries,be honest !
I guess I'll hand over my hard earned $3. I get so frustrated knowing the greedy lottery people is taking my money because it's controlled but hey you have to take a chance on something when it's this level for hope and dreams. I could be wrong about it being rigged or controlled but I see to many patterns. By the way someone asked me a interesting question "Hey Will, why don't the ghetto never wins the lottery. They spend just as much as a average working class family. They're the ones building it up for hopes and dreams" I said very interesting. You got a point there. All big winners never near the ghetto. Always in out skirts and small towns 🤔
I'm predicting it rolls to around $3.8 billion before anyone wins.
* Your positivity in this case is truly infectious Prince of thieves.
I picked up three draws worth so hopefully one of them will be the lucky one. Let's go!
here we go again watch only one winner from Califoria or Flordia it fixed
* As it should be dick.
Yeah well so do we and I'm SURE MANY OTHERS DO ALSO!
I'm about to lose My Child due to a Fast Progressing Disease, Hit us like a ton of bricks.... I just want to be able to keep our power on and food on the table at this point. And Yes Paying our other Bills would be Nice too... Material things have never been Important to Us, we just Love Being together.
What we want most of All Is more time together we have always been a very close three Generation family. And trust me the 3 of us have Fought very hard to get where we are now then for this to Happen.
life at best and worst is indeed unpredictable
I wish your child all the best 🍵
I'm REALLY getting tired of these BILLION $$$ Drawings/Multi Billion.
Even a Hundred Million or less would be enough.
I do wish they would go back to Lower amount winners. this is Ridiculous!
O no you di'int!
I have a FL & NJ ticket ready 😎 good luck everyone
🤣🤣🤣 you cracked my ribs, but just that you know, the lightning that's going to strike you is now doing push ups 🤣🤣
It feels like just the other day that we went down this hype road.
I am getting wiser every day.
I am sticking to a routine, when the jackpot is 20M, I buy one ticket, when the jackpot is 1B, I buy one ticket.
I get one ticket with power play and multiplier for every drawing both PB and MM. That is $780 a year.
Small winnings here and there but nothing to write about.
Hoping for a big one some day.
I wish me luck and you too.
So long as that "one winner" from California is me , I'm okay with it.
They do need to go back to a smaller matrix and less power ball or mega ball numbers. Let's spread the wealth around a little more.
But you know it's the hype and the many zeros that makes them sell.
The high amounts get the ball rolling and people spending.
The trick is not to get swayed by the amounts, just spend what one can afford and leave the rest to fate as it were.
I am pretty sure that the young lady with the felon boyfriend from North Carolina was from the ghetto. And if the ghetto spent the amount on powerball/mega millions that it does on pick 4 and pick 3, it would win almost everytime
Public Service Announcement:
If you want to maximize your total PB lotto lifetime losses, then spent $3/ticket on the powerplay option. Why? Because the extra 50% cost on your losing tickets totals to more than the extra money gained when you do hit, on average.
I'm hoping for a winner from Louisiana, me or my wife!
This is interesting.
I add the power play option always.
Please help me understand the losses from the illustration below.
I play every drawing.
3 drawings a week, $3 per drawing for a $9 total per week.
There are 52 weeks in a year so that's 52*$9 = $468.
If I play constantly for 50 years and the cost is constant - I will have spent 50*$468= $23,400.
Let us assume I win the 3rd tier prize once, which is $50,000 that will get multiplied based on the power play number draw and for our example let's go for the lowest option which is 2. So the prize becomes 100K.
Let us also tax it at the max rate 37%.
So am left with $63,000.
How will my lifetime expenditure of 23K be more than the winning of 63K?
So what you left out is that over a lifetime of Powerball lotto playing, your chance of getting a 5 or 6 ball win (including a 4+1 win) is ~ 1 to 2%.
You assumed you would get a 4+1 win, which, even with a lifetime of lotto playing, has very low probability.
"How will my lifetime expenditure of 23K be more than the winning of 63K? "
Because you're only going to get the 100k in your fantasies. You're talking about buying 7800 tickets, and because the odds are 1 in 913,129.18 that will give you only a 0.85% chance of actually winning. And it's actually even worse than that, because none of th etickets you've lready bought have any chance of being a winner, so you don't have 7800 chances to win.
That said, I once saw an analysis that said the average return from playing the powerplay or multiplier (not sure if the analysis was specific to one game or the other) is slightly better than not playing powerplay or the multiplier. Of course the odds are still against you, so what it really means is that you lose a tiny bit less.
Dude what are you babbling on about? The lottery is not fixed. Sure the one billion Powerball was won in California on July 19, 2023 and the one billion dollar Mega Millions was won in Florida on August 8, 2023 so what. A Ohio Powerball winner won 252M on April 19, 2023, a Virginia winner won 162M on March 4, 2023, a Washington State winner won 754M on February 6, 2023. This list goes on and on for both Powerball and Mega Millions. The ONLY reason YOU think the lottery is fixed is because the MEDIA only reports on the BILLION dollar lottery winners. The lesser amounts have NOW become insignificant to the media so they no longer report on it.
You could have explained to him that California and Florida sell hundreds of thousands more tickets than Montana and Vermont. Maybe that would sink in.