Powerball climbed to its second-highest grand prize overall on Wednesday, about $1.73 billion, after no one won the grand prize for the 35th consecutive time on Monday night.
Regardless of whether someone wins the grand prize on Wednesday, the current jackpot will mark the first time in the multi-state lottery’s history that it offered back-to-back grand prizes of more than $1 billion. A single winning ticket worth $1.08 billion was sold in California on July 19.
Michigan Lottery spokesman Jake Harris said Tuesday that sales of Powerball tickets in the Great Lakes State “are strong.” Cory Thone, spokesman for the Kansas Lottery, said the excitement over the near-record jackpot was also palpable in that state.
“Kansas Lottery players are excited about their chance to win an incredible $1.725 billion playing Powerball this week,” Thone told US Gaming Review on Tuesday. “It has been a fortuitous stretch for the Sunflower State, as we have had two $1 million Powerball winners and several $50,000 winners during this current jackpot run.”
Spokesperson John Hagerty said the Virginia Lottery is “seeing a lot of Powerball excitement in Virginia as a result of the growing jackpot.
“This is helped by recent big wins in Virginia, particularly in the Monday drawing, in which we had a $1 million winning ticket and two $150,000 winning tickets. Statewide news media are particularly interested in big Powerball wins in Virginia when the jackpot is high.”
Hagerty said the Virginia Lottery estimates that it will sell about $3.8 million in Powerball tickets in Virginia on Wednesday alone. “In fact, we anticipate that during peak times on Wednesday, we will sell Powerball tickets in Virginia at a rate of more than 3,828 tickets per minute,” he said.
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A New Record High is Possible by Next Week
If no one wins the grand prize for another week — meaning there is no jackpot winner on Wednesday or from the following drawing on Saturday — the grand prize would likely become a new record.
Two of the top ten Powerball jackpots were drawn earlier this year, with winning tickets sold in Washington state this past February and in California in July. The former prize ranks seventh overall at $754.6 million, while the latter ranks fourth at $1.08 billion. Both jackpots went to single winners.
The biggest Powerball prize in its history was awarded less than one year ago, on November 7, 2022. A world record jackpot of $2.04 billion was awarded to a single winner in California. The lucky player purchased their ticket at a gas station in suburban Los Angeles.
Powerball is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
The current Powerball jackpot has been growing since July 19, the last time a winning ticket was drawn that matched all six numbers. It became the fourth-highest jackpot on September 24 (at $785 million) before clearing the $1 billion mark ahead of the drawing on October 1. The jackpot climbed to third-highest overall on October 3 ($1.2 billion).
Grand prize winners have two options to claim their winnings.
Under the first (and more popular) option, winners receive a one-time lump sum payment. For Wednesday’s drawing, that will be about $756.6 million. There is also a second option — receive the full amount through an annuity over a 29-year period.
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.
Top 10 Powerball Jackpots
| Rank | Jackpot | Date | Where Winning Ticket(s) Sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2.04 billion | November 7, 2022 | CA | |
| $1.73 billion (estimated) | October 11, 2023 | TBD | |
| $1.586 billion | January 13, 2016 | CA, FL, TN | |
| $1.08 billion | July 19, 2023 | CA | |
| $768.4 million | March 27, 2019 | WI | |
| $758.7 million | August 23, 2017 | MA | |
| $754.6 million | February 6, 2023 | WA | |
| $731.1 million | January 20, 2021 | MD | |
| $699.8 million | October 4, 2021 | CA | |
| $687.8 million | October 27, 2018 | IA, NY |
