Powerball Hits $1B for Oct. 31 Drawing, Lottery’s Second-Largest Jackpot

Posted on: October 30, 2022, 10:06h. 

Last updated on: November 3, 2022, 08:41h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The Powerball jackpot continues to soar to unparalleled highs. After no ticket matched the five white numbers and red Powerball last night, the $822.3 million annuity rolled over for tomorrow night’s drawing.

Powerball jackpot $1 billion lottery odds Mega Millions
The estimated $800 Powerball jackpot managed to evade players during the game’s Oct. 29, 2022, drawing. The jackpot for the game’s Halloween drawing is estimated at $1 billion. (Image: ABC News)

Saturday’s winning numbers were 19-31-40-46-57 and red Powerball 23. It marked the 37th drawing in a row where not even a single ticket matched all six numbers. The odds of doing so are a measly one in 292.2 million.

Tomorrow night’s Powerball jackpot is an estimated $1 billion, with a one-time cash value of $497.3 million. It’s only the second time in Powerball history that the annuitized jackpot has eclipsed the 10-digit mark.

If someone were to win the jackpot tomorrow night, the person(s) will receive the second-largest Powerball prize in the game’s 30-year history. The only other time Powerball pushed beyond $1 billion occurred back in early 2016, when three lucky players in California, Florida, and Tennessee split a $1.586 billion Powerball award.

Close But No $800M

Powerball officials estimated last night’s Powerball drawing to come with an $800 million jackpot. But a surge in sales because of the headline-generating jackpot enticed many Americans to purchase a $2 Powerball play in hopes of a life-changing fortune. And that resulted in the jackpot outpacing expectations and pushing the pot north of $822.3 million.

A total of 86 tickets nearly won the $822.3 million prize last night, as those tickets matched five of the six winning numbers. Six of those tickets matched the five white balls, but not the red Powerball, to win the game’s second-best prize of $1 million each. One of those players bought the $1 add-on Power Play that doubled their win to $2 million.

The 80 other tickets matching five numbers hit four white balls and the Powerball. But the missing fifth white number resulted in the jackpot remaining intact. Those tickets each won $50,000, but 17 tripled their prize to $150,000 for buying the Power Play.

The Power Play was 3x last night. The $1 million second-tier prize can only be doubled through the Power Play.

Altogether, more than 3.8 million tickets won a prize last night, totaling more than $30 million. But none hit the winning six-number combination.

Halloween Lotterytacular

Though Powerball’s Oct. 31 drawing has a $1 billion prize advertised, no player will actually receive anywhere near $1 billion. That’s even if he or she is the lone holder of a ticket matching all six winning numbers.

Even if a single winner were to opt for the full annuitized value of the lottery prize over a 30-year period, the prize would be subject to federal and possibly state taxes that would considerably shrink the total value of the win.

Each of the 30 annual payments would equate to about $33.33 million. But after an effective federal tax of 37% is levied, the annual distribution would be reduced to about $21 million. If the winner resides in a state that levies a tax on lottery wins, the annual payment would be further reduced.

The average rate in the 36 states that tax lottery wins is 5.8%. That would cut the annual allocation to about $19.78 million. Over 30 years, that equates to roughly $593.5 million.