Powerball Jackpot Hits $700M, Lottery Game’s Fifth-Largest Prize Ever

Posted on: October 25, 2022, 12:02h. 

Last updated on: October 25, 2022, 12:50h.

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

The Powerball jackpot for Wednesday night’s drawing is an estimated $700 million, which is the lottery game’s fifth-largest all-time prize. Powerball began in April 1992.

Powerball jackpot lottery odds Mega Millions
The Powerball jackpot for the October 26 drawing is an estimated $700 million, with a cash option of $335.7 million. No Powerball ticket has matched all six winning numbers in 83 days. (Image: AP)

No ticket matched Powerball’s five white balls and red Powerball during Monday night’s drawing. The last time a ticket hit all six numbers was on August 3, when a player in Pennsylvania snagged the $206.9 million jackpot.

The estimated $700 million jackpot for the Wednesday, October 26 drawing comes after 35 drawings went without a ticket successfully matching all six winning numbers. Despite the winless streak, the jackpot odds for each ticket tomorrow remain a dismal one in 292.2 million.

If a ticket hits the jackpot on Wednesday, the lucky winner(s) will have a pre-tax lump cash option of $335.7 million. Along with cracking Powerball’s five largest jackpots ever, the $700 million prize ranks as the eighth-largest lottery jackpot in the history of the United States.

Play Surges

Interest in Powerball and Mega Millions increases greatly when the jackpot climbs to such unfathomable heights. And when more players purchase $2 Powerball tickets, more six-number combinations are covered for the draw. That slightly shortens the odds of at least one ticket hitting the six balls drawn from the Powerball machines.

Wednesday’s drawing has already greatly exceeded sales expectations. The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which facilitates Powerball, initially projected the October 26 Powerball jackpot to be approximately $680 million. Because of strong sales, MUSL officials have increased the projected bounty to $700 million.

Each ticket has nine ways to win. On Monday night, more than 1.2 million tickets won a prize.

The majority — 675,217 winning tickets — simply matched the red Powerball to double their $2 bet. But 161,702 of those tickets had the optional $1 add-on Power Play that quadrupled their prize after the Power Play turned up 4x during the drawing.

The top prize won Monday night was a winning ticket sold in Texas that matched all five white balls to win $1 million. Other notable wins include 32 tickets that matched four white balls and the red Powerball for $50K wins. Ten other tickets also matched four white balls and the Powerball, but additionally purchased the $1 Power Play to take their wins to $200K each.

Five Powerball jackpots have been won this year.

2022 Drawing Date — Jackpot Won — Winners

  1. January 5 — $632.6M — 2 (California, Wisconsin)
  2. February 14 — $185.3M — 1 (Connecticut)
  3. April 27 — $473.1M — 1 (Arizona)
  4. June 29 — $366.7M — 1 (Vermont)
  5. August 3 — $206.9M — 1 (Pennsylvania)

Top-10 Lottery Jackpots

The current Powerball jackpot has already solidified its position on the top-10 lottery jackpot list in US history. The richest lottery prize ever won came in January 2016 when three winners in California, Florida, and Tennessee shared a more than $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot.

The largest single win in US lottery history came via Mega Millions in October 2018 when a player in South Carolina was the lone winner of a $1.537 billion jackpot.

At $700 million, Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot is still less than halfway to becoming the largest lottery prize ever won in the US.