The Powerball jackpot has grown to over $1 billion after Monday night’s draw failed to find a winner, with the next opportunity coming on Wednesday, July 19. When it hits, it will be the fourth billion-dollar jackpot in the past year from a national US draw lottery. Once jackpots reach this size, their growth accelerates as people around the country flock to buy tickets.
Five players picked the eight winning numbers for Monday night’s draw, earning at least $1 million apiece: 5 – 8 – 9 – 17 – 41. Three of those players had purchased the Power Play option, doubling their prize to $2 million.
However, none of them got the Powerball number right to trigger what would have been a $900 million jackpot. The correct number would have been a 2.
The current jackpot began on April 19 and has taken 38 consecutive drawings with no winners to reach the billion-dollar mark. An Ohio resident won the previous jackpot, taking home $292.2 million.
Wednesday’s draw will occur at 10:59 p.m. ET at the Florida Lottery’s draw studio in Tallahassee. Sales cut-off times vary by state but are 10 p.m. at the latest. Players can watch the draw live on the Powerball website.
The advertised jackpot assumes the winner chooses the annuity option and receives their money in 30 annual payments. There is also an option to receive a smaller amount as an immediate lump sum, currently $516.8 million. Jackpots are subject to federal and possibly state tax.
Increased use of the Bonus Powerball Number Generator is one way to measure jackpot enthusiasm. On the day of the most recent draw, traffic to that page was eight times what we saw just before the April jackpot hit and 14 times the May average.
The Proliferation of Billion-Dollar Lottery Jackpots
Wednesday’s draw will mark the third time the Powerball jackpot has surpassed $1 billion. The last time was on Nov. 7, 2022, when it set a world record at $2.04 billion. At that time, visits to our number generator were 50 times the baseline, and the Powerball website crashed due to excessive traffic.
Powerball was also the first lottery to hit that milestone on Jan 13, 2016. Three ticket-holders shared that prize, from California, Florida and Tennessee.
Although Powerball holds the records for the first and biggest billion-plus jackpots, Mega Millions has produced more of them. That includes two in the past year. The most recent of these was $1.35 billion in January.
The current Mega Millions jackpot for Tuesday, July 18, is estimated at $640 million. It also has the potential to become another billion-dollar jackpot if there are no winners in the next few drawings.
All Billion-Plus Jackpots in US History
| Date | Value | Lottery | Winners' States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/13/2016 | $1.59B | Powerball | CA, FL, TN |
| 11/23/2018 | $1.54B | Mega Millions | SC |
| 01/22/2021 | $1.05B | Mega Millions | MI |
| 07/29/2022 | $1.34B | Mega Millions | IL |
| 11/07/2022 | $2.04B | Powerball | CA |
| 01/13/2023 | $1.35B | Mega Millions | ME |
| 07/19/2023 (current) | $1B+ | Powerball | ??? |
Online Ticket Sales Help Build Lottery Jackpots
Powerball and Mega Millions are available in 45 states and Washington, DC. Of the five hold-outs, Nevada and Alabama have been working towards establishing a lottery, and Nevada’s effort seems promising. (Hawaii has also attempted to create a lottery, but it would have been state-only and so wouldn’t have included participation in Powerball or Mega Millions).
Other states have also been expanding their existing lotteries. Several have introduced online ticket sales and even instant digital play.
Eight US jurisdictions offer full online lotteries, including instant win games:
- District of Columbia
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- New Hampshire
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
Rhode Island also offers online instant games but no draw ticket sales.
Six others allow online draw sales without instants. Some do this by subscription only, while others allow single purchases:
- Maine (subscription only)
- Maryland (subscription only)
- Massachusetts (subscription only)
- New York (subscription only)
- North Carolina (singles available)
- North Dakota (singles available)
Connecticut is set to join this group in late fall and will also include online Keno.
For some not residing in any of those states, there is an option to purchase a ticket online. Many states allow lottery courier services like Jackpocket. These couriers are legal in the states they operate and have partnered with state lottery agencies to purchase tickets on players’ behalf.
About the Author
