Powerball Jackpot Hits $750 Million For Monday Night Drawing, Cracks Top 10 All-Time

David Letterman’s late-night show is so long gone that even his successor at CBS is now on his way out. But more than a decade after Dave wrapped up his run, top-10 lists still resonate.

And the latest Powerball just cracked one of those lists.

For Monday night’s drawing, the estimated jackpot — in annuity form — is a nice, round $750 million. As in, three-quarters of a billion bucks.

That puts it on the list as the No. 10 all-time jackpot amount in the 33-year history of Powerball.

(These estimates tend to skew conservative, meaning Monday’s jackpot could extend beyond $750 million. Since No. 9 all-time is a $754.6 million jackpot claimed in 2023 and No. 8 all-time is a $758.7 million bonanza won in 2017, it’s not impossible that this drawing will ultimately ascend another spot or two on the list.)

The current estimated lump-sum cash value, by the way, is $338.6 million.

When will it reach $1 billion?

As you’ve probably inferred by now, there were no grand-prize winners in Saturday’s drawing, the 36th since the last Powerball jackpot winner was crowned on May 31 in California. The winning numbers were white balls 11, 14, 34, 47, and 51, along with red Powerball 18, and nobody matched all six.

Three players, however, connected with everything but the red Powerball. One customer in Maine and one in New York won $1 million apiece, and a lucky ticket-buyer in South Dakota scored $2 million by paying an extra dollar for the Power Play multiplier.

Lottery Geeks estimates a whopping 43.3 million tickets were purchased for Saturday’s drawing — more than double our estimate for two Saturdays prior, when the grand prize was approaching $500 million.

One related number of note: Lottery courier Jackpocket revealed that nearly 8 million Powerball tickets have been ordered through Jackpocket over the course of this run since May 31.

The jackpot estimate for Saturday was an even $700 million, though when all was said and done, that number ballooned to $716 million. (See the parenthetical note above about estimates veering conservative.)

If we, too, go conservative and use the estimated jackpots as our baseline, where the amount increased 7.14% from Saturday’s $700 million to Monday’s $750 million, a proportional rise should the jackpot keep rolling over would result in these numbers: $804 million Wednesday, $861 million Saturday, $922 million next Monday, $988 million next Wednesday, and into the billions at $1.06 billion two Saturdays from now.

Again, that’s projecting cautiously. It’s entirely realistic that Powerball breaks the billion-dollar barrier a week from Wednesday if there aren’t any perfect six-for-six tickets sold before then.

“The excitement of playing for a colossal Powerball jackpot is back!” said Powerball Product Group Chair and Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn in a Sunday press release.

Mega Mil hits a quarter-bil

While much of the attention understandably is falling on Powerball this week, the Mega Millions jackpot is swelling into noteworthy territory, too.

Nobody won Friday’s drawing with an estimated jackpot for $234 million — the winning numbers were 18, 30, 44, 48, and 50 with a gold Mega Ball of 12 — leading to a top prize of $253 million (or $113.8 million cash option) for Tuesday.

Mega Millions sales numbers are growing, though they are a mere fraction of the current Powerball numbers. For Friday’s drawing — the 16th since the last jackpot was won on June 17 in Virginia — Lottery Geeks estimates 6.3 million tickets were sold.

Tickets for Mega Millions cost $5, while Powerball tickets cost $2, with most states offering the multiplier option for Powerball — which impacts any prize won except the jackpot — for an additional $1. Mega Millions comes with an automatic multiplier for any prize except the jackpot.

Both Powerball and Mega Millions are legal in all states except Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Tickets for both draw games are also sold in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Puerto Rico, customers can buy tickets for Powerball, but not for Mega Millions.

All-time biggest jackpots

Here is a list of the all-time top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots prior to Monday night’s drawing:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $1.76 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
3. $1.6 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
4. $1.59 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
5. $1.54 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
6. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
7. $1.34 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
8. $1.33 billion, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
9. $1.22 billion, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024, won in California
10. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey

And here’s the all-time top 10 by lump-sum cash value prior to Monday night’s drawing:

1. $997.6 million, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $983.5 million, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
3. $877.8 million, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
4. $794.2 million, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
5. $780.5 million, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
6. $776.6 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021, won in Michigan
7. $774.1 million, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
8. $723.5 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
9. $621 million, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
10. $571.9 million, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024, won in California