Battle for Record Jackpot: Powerball on the Road to $1.23 Billion
Date: 2024-04-05 Author: Alex Crawford Categories: EVENTS
For four months, the jackpot of the popular American lottery Powerball eluded players. But after the latest drawing on Wednesday, the expected jackpot for the upcoming Saturday round reaches an astonishing $1.23 billion, making it the fourth largest in the game's history.
Profitable Winning Options
This figure represents the total prize if the player chooses annual installment payments. However, there is also a one-time reward for guessing the correct numbers, in this case a staggering $595.1 million.
Historical Obstruction
The expected jackpot comes amid one of the longest periods without a winner in Powerball history. The upcoming drawing, scheduled for Saturday, will be the 41st drawing of the game. Before this, only two other jackpots reached 41 draws before a winner was announced.
Drew Switko, Chairman of the Powerball Product Group, emphasized that increasing the prize attracts more players, which in turn increases the likelihood of winning. He noted that with the larger jackpot, "more number combinations are expected for Saturday's drawing, meaning a portion of each ticket sale will stay in the state to support government programs and services."
If the jackpot continues Saturday, there is a chance it will surpass the third-largest Powerball jackpot of $1.59 billion. That record was set in 2016, and the second-largest was set in October 2023, when the jackpot reached $1.77 billion. The largest Powerball jackpot in history, $2.04 billion, was won in November 2022.
Popularity Continues to Grow
Undeniably, interest in Powerball continues to increase along with the jackpot. On Wednesday, nine players took home the tier two prize by correctly matching all five winning numbers, according to the lottery. These players each received a $1 million prize. Among the lower prize tiers were 64 winning tickets worth $50,000 and 17 winning tickets worth $150,000 each.
