The Powerball jackpot edged up another decimal point this weekend, hitting $1.6 billion for Monday’s drawing after no Saturday ticket hit all six numbers.
The cash value of Monday’s jackpot, should anyone triumph over the 1 in 292.2 million odds of hitting all six digits, is $735.3 million, Powerball administrators say.
Saturday’s numbers were 4, 5, 28, 52, 69, the red Powerball number 20, and a 3x Power Play multiplier. Sept. 6 was the last time a ticket matched all winning numbers, when buyers in Missouri and Texas shared a $1.787 billion prize.
The 45 drawings since then mark the longest winnerless Powerball jackpot stretch in the game’s history and a near-record for all lotteries overall. Anyone daunted by the Everest-high jackpot odds can take heart with their chance of winning any prize at all, which is 1 in 24.9, the lowest amount being $4, or the price of two Powerball tickets.
Even with nobody matching all the winning numbers Saturday, one New Jersey winner who splurged on the extra dollar for the game’s Double Play snagged a $500,000 prize, Powerball noted. Overall, 112 tickets won $50,000 prizes and 22 won $150,000.
While none of those appear to have been bought in New York, state residents cleaned up in last Wednesday’s drawing, when three tickets won a million dollars each, a Manhattan ticket buyer snagged $200,000, and four tickets won $50,000 third prizes, according to the New York Lottery.
The next drawing in what Powerball officials are calling the game’s “holiday jackpot streak” is at 10:59 p.m. Monday.
“Powerball is giving players a chance to dream bigger than ever this holiday season,” said Powerball Product Group chair Matt Strawn in a statement.
The highest Powerball jackpot to date was $2.04 billion, won in California on Nov. 7, 2022.
With News Wire Services
