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Bonus TL;DR
- Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot is an estimated $835 million ($357.9 million cash), the 10th-largest in the game’s history.
- The odds of winning are 1 in 292.2 million. A dealt royal flush is about 450 times more likely, and a lightning strike in a given year is about 239 times more likely.
Most poker players can go a lifetime without being dealt a royal flush. It’s still about 450 times likelier than winning Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot.
The jackpot is an estimated $835 million, with a cash value of $357.9 million, according to Powerball. The drawing is at 10:59 p.m. EST. Monday’s drawing produced no jackpot winner, the 35th straight without one since an Illinois ticket won $1.04 billion on Aug. 12.
The odds of hitting it with one ticket are 1 in 292.2 million. That number is hard to picture, so here’s some help.
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How long are the Powerball jackpot odds?
Start at the card table. There are 2,598,960 possible five-card poker hands, and four of them are royal flushes. That works out to 1 in 649,740 on the deal. Divide that into Powerball’s odds, and the royal flush comes out about 450 times more likely.
Then step outside. The National Weather Service puts the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year at 1 in 1.22 million. That’s about 240 times likelier than the jackpot.
Go to the beach. The Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File puts the lifetime risk of dying in a shark incident at 1 in 4.3 million. Still about 68 times more likely than one Powerball ticket coming through.
Or try the golf course. The average golfer’s odds of a hole-in-one are 12,500 to 1, according to the National Hole-in-One Registry, as cited by the PGA of America. That one isn’t close. It’s more than 23,000 times likelier.
The odds of winning any Powerball prize are much friendlier, at 1 in 24.87.
Where does the $835 million Powerball jackpot rank?
It would rank 10th on Powerball’s all-time list if won Wednesday.
It got there by passing the $768.4 million jackpot won in Wisconsin in 2019. The next one up is $842.4 million, won in Michigan on Jan. 1, 2024. Wednesday’s estimate is $7.4 million short.
It’s also the second-largest Powerball jackpot of 2026, behind the Illinois win in August, which ranks eighth all time. The record is still the $2.04 billion jackpot won in California in 2022.
What are the most drawn Powerball numbers?
Powerball moved to its current format on Oct. 7, 2015: five white balls numbered 1 to 69, plus a red Powerball numbered 1 to 26. In the 1,428 drawings since, through Monday, these white balls have come up most, according to New York Lottery drawing records:
- 21: 128 times
- 61: 126 times
- 64: 126 times
- 28: 121 times
- 23: 120 times
- 32: 120 times
Among red balls, 14 leads with 68 appearances, followed by 4 with 66.
At the other end, 13 is the least-drawn white ball at 79 appearances, and 16 is the least-drawn red ball at 40.
Here’s the catch: None of those counts help a ticket. Each ball has the same chance in every drawing, no matter what it did over the past 10 years. If you’d rather not agonize over picks, a Powerball number generator gives you a random set in one click.
Same as the cards. A deck doesn’t remember the last hand, and it doesn’t owe anybody a royal flush either.
