Powerball Jackpot Reaches $336 Million, And Everyone Would Win If It Were Up To Oprah

You get a dollar, you get a dollar, you get a dollar, everybody gets a dollar!

With apologies to Oprah Winfrey, that’s pretty much where we are when it comes to Wednesday’s $336 million dollar Powerball drawing: If every single man, woman, and child in America were to split the jackpot (of course children can’t buy lottery tickets, just work with us here) it would come to roughly $1 per person, as the U.S. Census Bureau clocks our population at just about 336 million.

So what would you do with your dollar? As you think about that, we should note that it only becomes a full dollar if you take your payout over the course of 30 annual installments. If you want it all at once, you only get 49 cents, as the lump-sum cash value of the next drawing — the 23rd since the last time a winner was crowned — is $165.3 million.

As you’ve surely realized by now, nobody won Monday’s Powerball drawing — the winning numbers were 18, 30, 31, 52, and 63, with a red Powerball of 22 — although one lucky winner in Illinois took home $2 million for matching the five white balls on a ticket that included the Power Play multiplier.

Lottery Geeks estimates some 11 million tickets were sold for Monday night’s drawing.

For those keeping score at home, the Powerball jackpot would need to rise by about 10x for the winner to have Oprah’s net worth.

Mega Millions jackpot on the rise too

While Powerball offers the biggest prize in the draw lottery world these days, Mega Millions is continuing to grow as well, with Tuesday night’s drawing set at $129 million, with a $63 million cash option.

Friday night’s winning numbers — 21, 39, 42, 43, and 45, with a gold Mega Ball of 3 — not only didn’t yield a jackpot winner, no one matched all five white balls in an effort to win a million bucks.

Lottery Geeks estimates just shy of 12 million tickets were sold for that Friday drawing.

Tickets for either lottery cost $2, with most states offering a multiplier option (Megaplier for Mega Millions, Power Play for Powerball) for an additional $1.

Both lotteries are legal in all states except Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Tickets are also sold in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 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:

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. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey
10. $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California

And here’s the all-time top 10 by lump-sum cash value:

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. $558.1 million, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California