The jackpot for Saturday's Powerball drawing is expected to be its third-largest ever, reaching an estimated $825 million.
No one matched all six numbers (white balls 23, 35, 45, 66, 67 and red Powerball 20) in Wednesday's drawing, which had a top prize of $750 million. Monday's jackpot would have been Powerball's seventh-largest ever.
Two people matched all five white ball numbers, one in Indiana and one in Florida. They will each receive a check for $1 million.
Powerball said 10 tickets won $100,000 prizes, while 26 earned $50,000 prizes from Monday's drawing.
The Powerball jackpot has steadily grown since a player in Ohio won a $252 million jackpot on April 19. There have been two winning Powerball tickets sold in 2023.
Someone in Virginia won a $162.6 million jackpot in the March 4 drawing. The largest prize of the year came when a player in Washington won a $754.6 million jackpot in the Feb. 6 drawing.
Since Powerball lowered the odds of hitting all six numbers in 2015, the multi-state lottery generally has six to nine winners a year. All 10 of its largest jackpots have also come since 2015. The largest Powerball jackpot in history was $2.04 billion, won on Nov. 7, 2022.
The $850 million jackpot figure is based on the winner choosing the annuity option. If the winner takes the lump sum, that person would win $441.9 million. Both figures are before taxes.
The odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 292 million.
Powerball also has prizes ranging from $4 to $2 million. The odds of winning a smaller prize are about 1 in 25. During Wednesday's drawing, 1.8 million people won a prize.
Powerball is played in 45 states and Washington, D.C.
Another multi-state lottery, Mega Millions, will hold its seventh-largest jackpot on Friday at $560 million.
Justin Boggs
