The Powerball jackpot is in the neighborhood of a lottery world record.
Powerball officials said no winning tickets were sold for Wednesday night’s top prize of $1.2 billion, so the jackpot for Saturday night’s drawing would be at least an estimated $1.5 billion.
As it stands now, it will fall short of the world-record $1.586 billion Powerball grand prize shared by the three winners in 2016. The jackpot may increase if enough tickets are sold before the drawing.
A $1.5 billion jackpot would be just behind the world icon and a $1.537 billion Mega Millions pot of gold.
The winning numbers for Wednesday night’s drawing were 02, 11, 22, 35, 60 and a Powerball 23.
There have been 39 straight drawings without a jackpot winner since it was last hit on August 3. So another record is in sight: the Powerball mark for consecutive drawings without a grand prize winner is 40.
Jackpot winners can receive their prize as an annuity paid out over 29 years or as a lump sum payment. The cash value of Saturday night’s jackpot will be an estimated at least $745.9 million. This is all before tax.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are one in 292.2 million.
Powerball tickets are $2 each.
They are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET and are streamed live on Powerball.com.
