8th-largest lottery jackpot in world history

By Todd Northrop

Last night, the multi-state Powerball lottery game produced no top winner for the 39th consecutive drawing, prompting lottery officials to raise the game's jackpot to an astonishing $1.23 billion.

A winner who chooses the cash option would receive a lump-sum $595.1 million — more than a half-billion dollars in cash!

It's the stuff that a lottery player's dreams are made of — holding a lottery ticket for an upcoming Powerball drawing with the potential to transform your life in every way.

Do you choose the annuity, which has an initial payment of $18.5 million and increases the payment every year until the final payment of $76 million in the 29th year, or do you opt for the lump-sum cash payment of $595.1 million all at once?

You can weight the tax consequences of that choice state-by-state by visiting the Jackpot Analysis page at USA Mega, a web site devoted to the Powerball and Mega Millions multi-state lottery games. The 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.

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.

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, 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 Wednesday, April 3, 2024 were 11, 38, 41, 62, and 65, with Powerball number 15.  The Power Play number was 3.

The Wednesday Double Play drawing results were 10, 44, 53, 60, and 63, with Powerball number 13. Double Play is a game option currently available in 22 states that lets you play your numbers in a second drawing for $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.

Even though nobody won the jackpot Wednesday, 9 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 2 from California, 1 from Georgia, 1 from Maryland, 2 from Massachusetts, 1 from New Jersey, 1 from South Carolina, and 1 from Washington. (The 2 California winners each will claim a prizes of $1,622,808, due to the state's pari-mutuel payout formula.)

None of the second-prize tickets was purchased with the Power Play option, which would have doubled their prize to $2 million if they purchased the $1 option.

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, as well as the official drawing videos, can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega. Lottery Post also publishes the complete list of Powerball Prize Payouts and the Powerball Double Play Prize Payouts.

The official drawing videos can also be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega.

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, 81 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $50,000.  Of those tickets, 17 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $150,000, and 12 of the tickets were sold in California, where the prize was worth $19,682 this drawing.

Following the Wednesday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised $98.8 million from its previous amount of $1.1312 billion and the cash value was raised by $47.8 million from its previous amount of $547.3 million.

For information about how these jackpot amounts are calculated, check out the Lottery Post feature video, How are lottery jackpots are calculated?

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 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

Saturday's Powerball jackpot currently stands as the 4th-largest Powerball jackpot ever, and the 8th-largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States.  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.

1. Powerball: $2.0401 billion, Nov. 7, 2022 (40 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
2. Powerball: $1.7649 billion, Oct. 11, 2023 (35 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
3. Mega Millions: $1.602 billion, Aug. 8, 2023 (31 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Florida
4. Powerball: $1.5864 billion, Jan. 13, 2016 (19 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - California, Florida, Tennessee
5. Mega Millions: $1.537 billion, Oct. 23, 2018 (25 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - South Carolina
6. Mega Millions: $1.348 billion, Jan. 13, 2023 (25 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Maine
7. Mega Millions: $1.337 billion, Jul. 29, 2022 (29 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Illinois
8. Powerball: $1.23 billion, Apr. 6, 2024 (40 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
9. Mega Millions: $1.128 billion, Mar. 26, 2024 (30 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - New Jersey
10. Powerball: $1.0798 billion, Jul. 19, 2023 (38 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
11. Mega Millions: $1.05 billion, Jan. 22, 2021 (36 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Michigan
12. Powerball: $842.4 million, Jan. 1, 2024 (34 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Michigan
13. Powerball: $768.4 million, Mar. 27, 2019 (25 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Wisconsin
14. Powerball: $758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Massachusetts
15. Powerball: $754.6 million, Feb. 6, 2023 (33 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Washington
16. Powerball: $731.1 million, Jan. 20, 2021 (35 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - Maryland
17. Powerball: $699.8 million, Oct. 4, 2021 (40 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California
18. Powerball: $687.8 million, Oct. 27, 2018 (21 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Iowa, New York
19. Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 (18 rollovers, starting at $12 million) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
20. Mega Millions: $648 million, Dec. 17, 2013 (21 rollovers, starting at $12 million) - California, Georgia
21. Powerball: $632.6 million, Jan 5, 2022 (39 rollovers, starting at $20 million) - California, Wisconsin
22. Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 (13 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Florida
23. Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 (15 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - Arizona, Missouri
24. Powerball: $564.1 million, Feb. 11, 2015 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
25. Powerball: $559.7 million, Jan. 6, 2018 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) - New Hampshire

The number of jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:

• Powerball: 17
• Mega Millions: 8

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 9th-largest cash value in U.S. history.

1. Powerball: $997.6 million cash, Nov. 7, 2022 ($2.0401 billion annuity) - California
2. Powerball: $983.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2016 ($1.5864 billion annuity) - California, Florida, Tennessee
3. Mega Millions: $877.8 million cash, Oct. 23, 2018 ($1.537 billion annuity) - South Carolina
4. Mega Millions: $794.2 million cash, Aug. 8, 2023 ($1.602 billion annuity) - Florida
5. Mega Millions: $780.5 million cash, Jul. 29, 2022 ($1.337 billion annuity) - Illinois
6. Mega Millions: $776.6 million cash, Jan. 22, 2021 ($1.05 billion annuity) - Michigan
7. Powerball: $774.1 million cash, Oct. 11, 2023 ($1.7649 billion annuity) - California
8. Mega Millions: $723.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2023 ($1.348 billion annuity) - Maine
9. Powerball: $595.1 million cash, Apr. 6, 2024 ($1.23 billion annuity) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
10. Powerball: $558.1 million cash, Jul. 19, 2023 ($1.0798 billion annuity) - California
11. Powerball: $546.8 million cash, Jan. 20, 2021 ($731.1 million annuity) - Maryland
12. Mega Millions: $536.6 million cash, Mar. 26, 2024 ($1.128 billion annuity) - New Jersey
13. Powerball: $496 million cash, Oct. 4, 2021 ($699.8 million annuity) - California
14. Powerball: $480.5 million cash, Aug. 23, 2017 ($758.7 million annuity) - Massachusetts
15. Powerball: $477 million cash, Mar. 27, 2019 ($768.4 million annuity) - Wisconsin
16. Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
17. Powerball: $450.2 million cash, Jan. 5, 2022 ($632.6 million annuity) - California, Wisconsin
18. Powerball: $425.2 million cash, Jan. 1, 2024 ($842.4 million annuity) - Michigan
19. Powerball: $407.2 million cash, Feb. 6, 2023 ($754.6 million annuity) - Washington
20. Powerball: $396.2 million cash, Oct. 27, 2018 ($687.8 million annuity) - Iowa, New York
21. Powerball: $384.7 million cash, Nov. 28, 2012 ($587.5 million annuity) - Arizona, Missouri
22. Powerball: $381.1 million cash, Feb. 11, 2015 ($564.1 million annuity) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
23. Mega Millions: $378 million cash, Jul. 8, 2016 ($536 million annuity) - Indiana
24. Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013 ($590.5 million annuity) - Florida
25. Powerball: $352 million cash, Jan. 6, 2018 ($559.7 million annuity) - New Hampshire

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

• Powerball: 17
• Mega Millions: 8