$1.6B Powerball jackpot hits world record amount

(NEW YORK) — The Powerball jackpot reached an estimated $1.6 billion on Friday, making it the largest jackpot ever, lottery officials said.

The record-setting jackpot has ballooned after 39 consecutive drawings yielded no grand prize winner, lottery officials said.

The next drawing is Saturday night, marking the 40th Powerball drawing since the jackpot was last won in Pennsylvania on Aug. 3. The cash value of Saturday’s jackpot is $782.4 million, according to the latest figures.

If a player’s ticket matches all six numbers drawn on Saturday night, it will be the largest jackpot won in U.S. lottery history — surpassing the previous world-record-setting $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot in 2016.

If no one wins Saturday’s jackpot, it will tie the game record for the number of drawings in a row without a grand prize winner, Powerball said.

Although there was no jackpot winner in the last drawing on Wednesday night, more than 7.2 million tickets won cash prizes totaling $74.9 million. The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9, according to Powerball.

The jackpot grows based on game sales and interest. But the odds of winning the big prize stays the same — 1 in 292.2 million, Powerball said.

Jackpot winners can either take the money as an immediate cash lump sum or in 30 annual payments over 29 years. Both advertised prize options do not include federal and jurisdictional taxes, Powerball said.

Tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than half of all proceeds remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was purchased, according to Powerball.

Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee. The drawings are also livestreamed online at Powerball.com.

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