Breaking: Powerball Grows to New World Record of $1.9 Billion as “Wild Ride” Continues

Powerball pushed deeper into record-breaking territory on Monday after no one won the grand prize for the 40th consecutive time on Saturday night.

The world’s largest lottery prize ever offered now stands at $1.9 billion, according to the non-profit Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which runs Powerball.

In a sign of the excitement surrounding the historic jackpot, the official website for Powerball crashed since the Saturday night drawing and was down on Sunday and into Monday.

“Due to tremendous website traffic, we’ve had to temporarily replace the full Powerball website with a static page,” a MUSL employee who asked to remain anonymous told US Gaming Review on Monday.

“Our main goal is to make sure that people can access the winning numbers.” The employee asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Jake Harris and Cory Thone, representatives for the Michigan Lottery and the Kansas Lottery, respectively, concurred.

“Powerball has proactively updated their website with a static page in anticipation of the traffic they will receive tonight,” Harris said Monday. Thone added the Powerball site “got overwhelmed with visitors, so they’re doing their best to prepare for that level of interest again tonight.

“Been a wild ride!”

Huge Volumes of Tickets Sold

Despite the glitch, state lottery officials reported strong ticket sales heading into the Monday night drawing. Powerball is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

Jennifer Mullen, Director of Public Affairs and Community Relations for the Virginia Lottery, said that as of 2:00 p.m. Monday, sales of Powerball tickets in Virginia had totaled nearly $3.6 million.

“At peak times, we’ll sell more than 13,000 tickets per minute,” Mullen told US Gaming Review. “We want players to remember that there are multiple prizes in the game, so even if it’s not a jackpot-winning ticket, don’t throw it away — other prizes range from $4 up to $1 million.

“Also, through tonight’s drawing, Virginia has generated more than $42 million in profits to K-12 public schools, so there’s no doubt this is a win for education.”

Drew Svitko, Powerball Product Group Chair and Pennsylvania Lottery Executive Director, said, “we are expecting another tremendous round of ticket sales for tonight’s drawing.”

In Michigan, Harris said the state Lottery is “closely monitoring systems. I am happy to report both retail and online sales systems are operating as expected.”

Thone said players in Kansas “are pumped up about their chance to make history. As the jackpot has continued to roll, interest in the game has also hit new highs. As always, we would like to remind everyone to play responsibly and to have fun! Good luck to all in tonight’s drawing.”

Rollover Record Could Fall

The current Powerball jackpot has been growing since August 3, the last time a winning ticket was drawn that matched all six numbers. It reached $825 million for the October 29 drawing and topped the $1 billion mark on October 31. The jackpot was worth $1.2 billion on November 2 and $1.6 billion on November 5.

If no one wins the grand prize on Monday, the record for the number of consecutive rollovers (41) will be tied. A previous streak of 41 rollovers ended on October 4, 2021, when a winning ticket sold in California claimed a jackpot of $699.8 million — currently the sixth-highest Powerball jackpot of all time.

Before last week, the previous record for a Powerball jackpot was $1.586 billion, which was drawn on January 13, 2016, and split between winners in California, Florida, and Tennessee.

Although the grand prize winners have two options to claim their winnings, the more popular option is to receive a lump sum payment. For Monday’s drawing, that equates to approximately $929.1 million. Winners can also receive the full amount through an annuity over 29 years.

The odds of winning the grand prize are 1-in-292.2 million. The overall odds of winning a prize in Powerball are 1-in-24.9.

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