Powerball jackpot hits estimated $580 million for Saturday’s drawing
The Powerball jackpot for Saturday’s drawing is estimated to be $580 million, lottery officials announced Friday. It marks the tenth largest Powerball jackpot ever.
There have been 33 drawings without a jackpot winner, the lottery said. The last winning ticket, for a then-$206.9 million jackpot, was sold on Aug. 3 in Pennsylvania.
In Wednesday’s drawing, a New Jersey ticket won $2 million, while a second New Jersey ticket and a Michigan ticket each won $1 million.
The winning numbers will be announced at 11 p.m. ET Saturday. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
In July, a single winning ticket for a $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot was sold in Illinois, marking the third-largest lottery prize ever. The two people who purchased the ticket didn’t come forward to claim the winnings until September. They opted to take a $780.5 million lump sum payment.
The largest lottery prize ever was a $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot in January 2016. Three winning tickets were sold in California, Florida and Tennessee.
Powerball jackpot winners can either accept annuity payments over 29 years, or a lump sum. For Saturday’s drawing, the lump sum payment would amount to $278.2 million.
Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each ticket costs $2.