Powerball Jackpot Reaches $700 Million as Ticket Sales Surge

The Powerball jackpot has reached $700 million after strong lottery ticket sales pushed the game's leaders to raise the grand prize by an additional $15 million.

After Monday's drawing — the 32nd in a row without a winner — the game's jackpot shot up to $685 million. A lucky player (or players) who holds the winning grand prize ticket Wednesday night could receive the ninth-largest prize in Powerball's history, according to the game‘s website.

Whoever has that ticket with all the matching numbers called by Powerball has two options to claim their winnings: accept a lump-sum payment of $352.3 million, or take the full $700 million jackpot in annual payments spread out over three decades.

After federal taxes are accounted for, a winner who accepts a lump-sum payment will take home nearly $222 million, according to calculations by Usamega.com. Some individuals may also have to pay state taxes on the prize, depending on which state they live in.

“This Powerball jackpot is climbing the charts and it’s anyone’s guess whether our next big winner will be made in 2023 or the New Year,” Drew Svitko, Powerball's product group chair, said. “This is a fun time to get into the game, especially over the holidays when you can dream big with family and friends."

This is the fourth Powerball jackpot to exceed a half billion dollars over the past year. The last such jackpot was won on Oct. 11, with a winning ticket in California of $1.76 billion — the second-largest U.S. lottery prize ever won.

The odds of winning Wednesday's jackpot are infinitesimal, just 1 in 292,201,338, while the overall odds of winning any prize is 1 in 24.9, according to Powerball.

Although there was no winner for Monday's jackpot, several players still won large prizes.

Two tickets, sold in New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, scored $1 million prizes for their players, while two other tickets — one sold in Colorado and the other in Georgia — won $2 million prizes each through Powerball's Power Play feature. A California ticket holder won just over $2 million.