POWERBALL® is capping off its 30th anniversary week on a high note! The jackpot for the Saturday, April 23 drawing has reached an estimated $400 million ($240.8 million cash value).
This week marks Powerball’s 30th anniversary. Ticket sales began on April 19, 1992, for the game’s first drawing held on April 22, 1992.
The Powerball jackpot was last hit in Connecticut in the Feb. 14 drawing when a single ticket won a $185.3 million jackpot. Since then, there have been 28 drawings in a row without a jackpot winner. The jackpot has been hit one other time this year. Two tickets, sold in California and Wisconsin, split a $632. 6 million jackpot in the January 5 drawing. That jackpot ranked as the 7th largest in Powerball game history.
While no ticket matched all five white balls and the red Powerball drawn in the Wednesday, April 20 drawing, one ticket in New Jersey matched all five white balls. The winning ticket doubled the $1 million prize to $2 million by including the Power Play® feature for an additional $1.
Powerball tickets are $2 per play. Tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than half of all proceeds from the sale of a Powerball ticket remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold. Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee. Powerball drawings are also live streamed online at Powerball.com.
Jackpot winners may choose to receive their prize as an annuity, paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or a lump sum payment. Both advertised prize options are prior to federal and jurisdictional taxes. The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
To date, Powerball holds the world record for largest jackpot set in 2016. The record $1.586 billion jackpot was shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.
