Powerball jackpot now an estimated $1 billion for Saturday's drawing

The Powerball jackpot is now an estimated $1 billion for Saturday night’s drawing.

There was no grand prize winner for Wednesday’s roughly $850 million jackpot, and Powerball initially said the increased jackpot was approximately $950 million. Game leaders reviewed national ticket sales and increased the jackpot, Powerball said Friday.

The estimated cash value of Saturday’s grand prize is $453.1 million. The drawing will take place from the Florida Lottery live draw studio in Tallahassee.

It’s the sixth grand prize to hit the billion-dollar mark in the game’s 33-year history, Powerball said. Four of the five previous billion-plus-jackpot-winning tickets were sold in California, including a single ticket sold in Altadena in 2022 that claimed a $2.04 billion jackpot, the largest in both Powerball and lottery history.

A single jackpot winner on Saturday would have the choice of taking a lump sum payment or opting for a payout via an annuity that would consist of one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year (both options are before taxes).

No one has won Powerball’s jackpot since May 31, when a single ticket in California claimed a $204.5 million jackpot with a cash value of $91.6 million.

The odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball. Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 11 p.m. ET. 

Powerball tickets cost $2 each and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The first Powerball drawing was in 1992.