Powerball soars to $856 million for tonight’s drawing, the largest jackpot of the year

Today could be a lucky day for Powerball players. The game’s jackpot has soared to $856 million, making it the eighth-largest prize in the game’s history and the largest of the year so far.

The next drawing will take place tonight at 10:59 p.m. EDT. The cash prize value is approximately $371 million.

No one has won the grand prize in over three months, allowing the jackpot to steadily grow to tonight’s enormous sum.

No ticket matched all six winning numbers in Wednesday’s drawing, which had a jackpot of $794 million. The winning numbers were 14, 20, 59, 60, 61 and red Powerball 25, with a Power Play multiplier of 2.

And while no one walked away with Wednesday’s grand prize, one lucky person in Ohio won $1 million, according to the Powerball website.

The last jackpot was won on May 2 by two players in Florida and Texas who split a $20 million prize, according to Powerball.

“We already had five Powerball jackpots won by tickets in seven states (this year) before this current jackpot run,” a spokesperson for the Multi-State Lottery Association told CNN. “As jackpots continue to rollover without a grand prize winner, player interest grows and contributes to a faster jackpot growth.”

Powerball expands to United Kingdom

Tonight’s drawing comes as Powerball tickets became available in the United Kingdom for the first time last month through an agreement between the Multi-State Lottery Association and Allwyn UK, the owner of the country’s National Lottery.

This gave UK players the chance to jump into the running for larger jackpots than have previously been available.

“Whenever a new lottery or large player base joins the game, it can contribute to faster jackpot growth. Since the launch in the UK, ticket sales have continued to increase alongside the jackpot,” said the Multi-State Lottery Association spokesperson, while acknowledging that it is too early to draw broad conclusions about the expansion’s impact on the game.

In addition to the UK, Powerball is played in 45 US states as well as Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

The all-time highest jackpot was just over $2 billion, drawn by a California resident in 2022.

This year has seen some sizable prizes, with a $250.8 million jackpot won in Arkansas in March, followed by a prize of $230.8 million in Delaware the next month.

Jackpot winners can receive their prize in a lump sum or across 30 installments, which lotteries offer through an annuitized prize plan that takes interest into account.

The lump sum is paid to winners at once from the money in the jackpot pool, which is typically lower than the annuitized value.

Today’s $856 million figure would be before taxes, although some states, including California and Texas, don’t tax lottery winnings.

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are approximately 1 in 292.2 million. Odds are more favorable for smaller cash prices.

Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET.

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