Powerball Jackpot Nears $1 Billion As Wednesday Drawing Looms After No Winner Claims $905 Million Prize

No ticket matched all six numbers in Monday night's Powerball drawing, pushing the jackpot toward the $1 billion mark and setting up one of the largest lottery prizes in U.S. history for Wednesday night's drawing.

Powerball officials said the estimated jackpot for Wednesday's drawing will be at least $975 million, with an estimated cash value of at least $422.3 million. Both figures are calculated before taxes. Monday's drawing came up empty for the top prize after no ticket matched the winning numbers: 6, 37, 54, 55, 64, with a Powerball number of 10.

Should Wednesday's jackpot reach or exceed $1 billion, it would mark the 15th time a U.S. lottery jackpot has hit that threshold and the eighth time specifically for Powerball, according to lottery officials. The drawing will be the 44th held since the jackpot was last won on May 2, when players in Florida and Texas split a $20 million prize, kicking off the current growth streak that has steadily built toward Wednesday's potential milestone.

Lottery jackpots tend to grow larger the longer a run goes without a winner, since ticket sales typically increase as the prize climbs and public attention builds. That dynamic has played out repeatedly in Powerball's history, with the current stretch reflecting a familiar pattern of mounting anticipation as the jackpot approaches record territory.

The largest lottery jackpot ever recorded remains the $2.04 billion Powerball prize won by a single ticket sold in California in November 2022, still the benchmark against which subsequent massive jackpots, including this week's potential billion-dollar prize, continue to be measured. Other historically large jackpots include a $1.82 billion Mega Millions prize won in December 2025, a $1.79 billion jackpot claimed in September 2025, and a $1.77 billion prize from October 2023, underscoring how frequently U.S. lottery jackpots have climbed into record territory in recent years.

Winners of a Powerball jackpot face a choice between two payout structures: a lump-sum cash payment or an annuity paid out over 30 installments spread across 29 years. Both options are subject to federal and, in most cases, state taxes before a winner receives any funds. The estimated cash value released ahead of each drawing reflects the lump-sum option specifically, which is typically significantly lower than the advertised annuity total due to the time value of money involved in spreading payments out over three decades.

Powerball tickets cost $2 each and have historically been sold across 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Last month, ticket sales expanded internationally for the first time, with Powerball tickets going on sale in the United Kingdom. However, tickets purchased in the U.K. only count toward the main jackpot prize, and lower-tier prize structures for U.K. ticket holders differ from those offered to players in the United States, reflecting the complexities of extending a U.S.-based lottery system to international markets.

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot remain extraordinarily long, at 1 in 292,201,338, a figure that underscores just how rare a jackpot-winning ticket truly is despite the game's enormous popularity and the frequency with which massive jackpots capture national attention. Powerball drawings are held three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 10:59 p.m. Eastern time, giving players regular opportunities to attempt to claim the growing prize.

Wednesday's drawing arrives amid a broader wave of public interest in lottery jackpots that has become a recurring feature of American culture in recent years, as both Powerball and its rival game, Mega Millions, have repeatedly produced jackpots exceeding $1 billion. The current stretch without a Powerball winner has already generated significant media attention as the prize has climbed week over week, a pattern that tends to accelerate ticket sales sharply once a jackpot approaches the billion-dollar threshold, given the outsized public fascination such prizes tend to generate.

Should no winning ticket be sold for Wednesday's drawing, the jackpot would continue to grow ahead of the following scheduled drawing, extending what has already become one of the longer runs without a Powerball jackpot winner in recent memory. Lottery officials have not indicated any changes to the standard drawing schedule as the jackpot continues its climb toward the billion-dollar mark.

For players hoping to participate, tickets for Wednesday's drawing remain available for purchase through the standard network of authorized retailers across participating states and territories, as well as through the newly expanded international sales channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of the 10:59 p.m. Eastern drawing time.