Powerball® is ready to spread Good Cheer this holiday season! With less than three days to go until Christmas, the Powerball jackpot has risen to an estimated $620 million. The jackpot has an estimated cash value of $312 million.
The next Powerball drawing is set for Saturday at 10:59 p.m. EST. Ticket sales cutoff times vary by jurisdiction, but typically occur 1-2 hours before the scheduled draw time.
“Powerball is a game that brings people together, and we would look forward to continuing that tradition over the holidays,” said Drew Svitko, Powerball Product Group Chair and Pennsylvania Lottery Executive Director. “If you’re buying a Powerball ticket this weekend, please know that a portion of your ticket purchase will stay in your home state to support local communities and remember to please always play responsibly. It only takes one ticket to win big.”
This is the fourth Powerball jackpot to exceed half a billion dollars this calendar year. The Powerball jackpot was previously won on Oct. 11 when a ticket in California won a $1.765 billion grand prize. Since then, there have been 30 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner.
If a player wins the jackpot in Saturday’s drawing, they will have the choice between an annuitized prize worth an estimated $620 million or a lump sum payment estimated at $312 million. Both prize options are before taxes. If the winner selects the annuity option, they will receive one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5-percent each year.
If the Powerball jackpot evades players on Saturday night, the next chance to play for the growing jackpot will occur on Christmas. Throughout the game’s history, there have been only three Powerball jackpots won on Christmas. The last time this occurred was ten years ago, on Dec. 25, 2013, when a Powerball player in Missouri won a $71.5 million jackpot.
Despite there being no jackpot winner in last Wednesday’s Powerball drawing, five tickets nationwide won prizes worth $1 million or more. Two tickets, sold in Kentucky and Rhode Island, matched all five white balls to win $1 million prizes. Three tickets, sold in Colorado, Kentucky, and Virginia, matched all five white balls and increased their winnings to $2 million by including the Power Play® feature on their tickets for an additional $1 per play. The winning numbers in the Wednesday, Dec. 20 Powerball drawing were white balls 27, 35, 41, 56, 60 and red Powerball 16.
Powerball tickets are $2 per play. Tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than half of all proceeds from the sale of a Powerball ticket remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold. Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. EST from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee. Powerball drawings are also live streamed on Powerball.com.
The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
2023 Powerball Jackpots
- Feb. 6, 2023 - $754.6 million - WA
- March 4, 2023 - $162.2 million - VA
- April 19, 2023 - $252.6 million - OH
- July 19, 2023 - $1.08 billion - CA
- Oct. 11, 2023 - $1.765 billion - CA
Top 10 Powerball Jackpots
- $2.04 Billion – Nov. 7, 2022 – CA
- $1.765 Billion – Oct. 11, 2023 - CA
- $1.586 Billion – Jan. 13, 2016 – CA, FL, TN
- $1.08 Billion – July 19, 2023 – CA
- $768.4 Million – March 27, 2019 – WI
- $758.7 Million – Aug. 23, 2017 – MA
- $754.6 Million – Feb. 6, 2023 - WA
- $731.1 Million – Jan. 20, 2021 – MD
- $699.8 Million – Oct. 4, 2021 – CA
- $687.8 Million – Oct. 27, 2018 – IA, NY