The Powerball jackpot once again evaded players on Wednesday after no ticket was able to overcome the abysmal odds and match all six numbers drawn.
That has, however, given the jackpot the chance to grow to a near-record $1.7 billion ahead of Saturday's drawing. At its current size, with a cash value of $770.3 million, the jackpot ranks as the third largest in Powerball and U.S. history.
Top 10 largest Powerball, Mega Millions jackpots
- $2.04 billion (Powerball): Nov. 7, 2022; California
- $1.765 billion (Powerball): Oct. 11, 2023; California
- $1.7 billion (Current Powerball jackpot)
- $1.602 billion (Mega Millions): Aug. 8, 2023; Florida
- $1.586 billion (Powerball): Jan. 13, 2016; California, Florida, Tennessee
- $1.537 billion (Mega Millions): Oct. 23, 2018; South Carolina
- $1.348 billion (Mega Millions): Jan. 13, 2023; Maine
- $1.337 billion (Mega Millions): July 29, 2022; Illinois
- $1.326 billion (Powerball): April 6, 2024; Oregon
- $1.269 billion (Mega Millions): Dec. 27, 2024; California
There's a decent chance the jackpot will grow enough to surpass the $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot won by a single ticket sold in California.
What won't grow before the next drawing are your odds of winning (unless you buy enough tickets to ensure victory). They're still 1 in 292.2 million, worse than your odds of being attacked by a shark or struck by lightning.
Powerball players have sworn by various methods that help them win: playing hot or cold numbers, lottery wheeling, the Delta Lotto System, and playing a certain combination of numbers over and over again are popular options. While buying every possible combination of numbers is the only sure way to win, it's costly. And there has to be some luck to winning, right?
If you're looking to give your lucky Powerball numbers an extra advantage, you may want to consider the state you're playing in.
Maybe you're looking for a state so overdue, it hasn't even sold a jackpot-winning Powerball ticket yet. In that case, you need to look no further than Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota and Wyoming. Since 2003, these states have not sold a jackpot-winning Powerball ticket. Maine is also the only state in this group to have sold a Mega Millions jackpot-winning ticket (worth $1.348 billion, the seventh-largest prize across both national draw games).
Technically, Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah haven't sold a jackpot-winning ticket either, and they won't anytime soon. For their own reasons, these five states do not participate in Powerball or Mega Millions.
Across the states that do participate are three that have sold a single Powerball ticket that hit the grand prize: Vermont in 2022, and Arkansas and Montana in 2010. The District of Columbia also sold a single Powerball jackpot winner in 2009.
If you want to keep focusing on jurisdictions that haven't sold a jackpot-winner in a while, some have had longer droughts than Washington, D.C. Atop that list is Idaho, which last saw a Powerball winner in 2005 with a $220.3 million prize, game records show. New Mexico hasn't seen a Powerball jackpot since 2008, when a $206 million prize was won.
In addition to D.C., two other states have been awaiting a Powerball jackpot since 2009: Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Maybe you prefer a "hot" state that has had a Powerball jackpot during this decade. The most recent Powerball jackpot, worth $204.5 million, was secured by a ticket sold in California in May. Roughly a month earlier, a ticket worth $167.3 million was sold in Kentucky. California had another jackpot in March, while Oregon saw a victory in Oregon.
California has a track record for selling tickets that win record-setting prizes. Four of the 10 largest jackpots ever won in the U.S. were captured by California tickets. Four of the largest Powerball jackpots alone have been won in California, including the world-record $2.04 billion grand prize won in 2022.
While it always seems to win lottery jackpots, California has only sold the second-most grand prize-winning Powerball tickets, tying with Florida at 17. Pennsylvania has sold the most at 19, with its last coming in 2024.
The interactive map below shows how many jackpot-winning Powerball tickets have been sold in each state since 2003, when the last jackpot-winner was sold, and the largest jackpot ever won.
Jackpots split by tickets sold in different states are included in each state's cumulative total.
There are other factors to consider when determining where to play Powerball, like tax withholdings and whether or not you can remain anonymous.
If you're hoping to bring a jackpot victory to your state, you have some time before the next drawing, which is set for 10:59 p.m. EDT on Saturday. A Powerball ticket costs $2, with additional drawings held every Monday and Wednesday.
Source: The Hill - News