Powerball jackpot rises to record $1.6B

The Associated Press

1 year ago

Bruce Gideos, floor manager at Pierre's Place, in Chesterfield, N.H., prints out Powerball tick ... — Bruce Gideos, floor manager at Pierre’s Place, in Chesterfield, N.H., prints out Powerball tickets on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022. (Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP)

Two Powerball playslips sit on top of a piece of scratch paper at Bluebird Liquor in Hawthorne, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Powerball jackpot climbed to $1.6 billion on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, after no one won Wednesday’s drawing. (Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa — Strong sales boosted a Powerball jackpot to an estimated $1.6 billion on Friday, making it the largest lottery prize in history.

A drawing will be held Saturday night for the Powerball prize, which hasn’t been won in more than three months. That string of 39 consecutive drawings without a winner is a reflection of the tough odds of winning a jackpot, at 1 in 292.2 million.

The advertised jackpot is the prize for a winner who chooses an annuity, paid annually over 29 years. Almost all winners instead opt for the cash prize, which for Saturday night’s drawing would be an estimated $782.4 million.

The new jackpot tops the previous record prize of $1.586 billion won in 2016 by three Powerball players in California, Florida and Tennessee.

Nevada is one of five states that does not offer Mega Millions or Powerball, but the Primm Valley Lotto Store sits just over the border on the California side about 45 miles from Las Vegas off Interstate 15.

Powerball is also played in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.