It’s that time again: The Powerball lottery jackpot has ballooned to $1.04 billion — among the highest grand prizes in lottery history — after yet another drawing with no winner.
The next Powerball drawing is tonight, offering a grand prize cash value of $478.2 million.
That jackpot total would put it fourth among the top 10 Powerball jackpots, the lottery said. The last jumbo prize, for $1.08 billion, was on July 19, when a single ticket in California matched all five white balls and the red Powerball. In January an even bigger $1.586 billion jackpot hit for players in California, Florida, and Tennessee.
Since the last $1 billion-plus grand prize in July, there have been 32 consecutive Powerball lottery drawings with no grand prize winner. Saturday’s drawing did produce five $1 million prizes for tickets that matched all five white balls. Two other tickets matched all five white balls and paid out $2 million each because the ticket holders paid $1 more for a multiplier feature.
The $1.04 billion jackpot, should a ticket hit later tonight, can either be claimed as an annuity payment or a one-time lump sum, both of which are pretax.
The Powerball is one of two multistate lotteries in the U.S. The $2 Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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