The Powerball jackpot is $700 million and the next drawing is Wednesday night, so you better get your tickets now.
According to Lottery officials, the $700 million Powerball jackpot is the second largest jackpot in the history of the U.S. lottery.
The reason why the current Powerball prize pool has reached $700 million is because there have been 21 straight Powerball drawings without a winner. The last time somebody won the Powerball was on June 10. One winning ticket was sold, worth $447 million.
The largest Powerball jackpot in history is $1.6 billion on January 13, 2016. The three winning tickets were sold in California, Florida and Tennessee.
The odds of selecting all six winning numbers for the Powerball jackpot are one in 2.92 million. That means you’re more likely to die in a plane crash, get attacked by a shark, struck by lightning or give birth to conjoined twins.
Despite having the odds of winning the lottery stacked against you, millions of people continue to play. According to CNN Money, Americans spend more than $70 billion on lottery tickets each year, with 60-70% of that spent on lottery scratch tickets alone.
If you’ve never played the Powerball before, and you’re thinking about playing for the first time, then we’ve got you covered. Below are a few basic details about the game and how to play.
How to play Powerball and when is the drawing?
The Powerball drawing will take place on Wednesday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in Tallahassee, Florida. It costs $2 to purchase a Powerball ticket.
To play, pick five numbers ranging from 1 and 69 along with the Powerball, which ranges from 1 and 26. During the drawing, five balls are selected from a drum with 69 balls.
The Powerball is selected from a second drum containing 26 red balls. To win the jackpot, you need to match all five of your numbers in any order plus the Powerball number.
Powerball jackpot
If you win the jackpot, you have two options to claim your prize: You can accept a lump sum payment or have the total jackpot issued to you in 30 payments over 29 years. Most people take the lump sum cash option.
Note: Uncle Sam will withhold 25% of the money before you ever see it.
The next thing you should do after winning is contact the author of this story and share your prize with them. They would greatly appreciate it. Good luck!
