This year’s biggest Powerball jackpot is almost one for the all-time record books.
The prize for Wednesday’s multistate drawing has risen to $750 million. No one picked enough correct numbers to claim $625 million last Saturday. The odds of winning are a totally doable 1 in 292 million.
If someone hits the jackpot, it’ll be the fourth-largest U.S. lottery prize in history. The biggest of all time is a $1.59 billion Powerball drawing in January 2016, and the runner-up is a $1.54 billion MegaMillions jackpot claimed last October. If the $750 million goes unclaimed, the next Powerball drawing will move into the No. 3 all-time slot, currently held by a $758.7 million winner from Massachusetts in August 2017.
If you’re feeling lucky, you have until 10pm Wednesday to enter the drawing at a local lottery retailer. Tickets cost $2, and you can spend an additional $1 per line for Power Play, a chance to multiply non-jackpot winnings.
Let’s win this, New York! Let’s bring home the $750M #Powerball #Jackpot. Visit your local lottery retailer by 10pm Wednesday for your chance to win. pic.twitter.com/5kG4jxCOqF
— New York Lottery (@newyorklottery) March 24, 2019
To earn the top prize, a player has to match all six winning Powerball numbers. Last Saturday, some winners matched enough to score a surely disappointing $2 million and $1 million, the Washington Post reported.
Powerball points out that 1 in every 25 tickets wins something — at least a few dollars.
The last time New York City saw a big local winner was last December, when David Johnson of Brooklyn bought a winning Powerball ticket worth $298.3 million.
Winners choose between receiving their winnings in an annuity, with payments over 30 year, or one lump-sum payment of a smaller amount. Just FYI: Financial pros say it’s wiser to choose the latter option.
