How Close Is Powerball To Reaching Another Billion Dollar Jackpot?

Nobody won the Powerball jackpot Monday night, which was valued at an estimated $655 million if paid out in annuity form. So it rolls over to an estimated $681 million for the Thanksgiving eve drawing, with a lump-sum cash value of $315.7 million.

These are huge numbers. Never-work-again-and-tell-your-kids-they’ll-never-work-again-either numbers. But they aren’t quite magic numbers when it comes to lotteries and the publicity machine kicking into overdrive.

The bar in modern lottery play for making eyes bulge, for making ticket sales explode, for making jackpots increase by 20% or more from one drawing to the next is that nice round number: $1 billion.

And from looking at the last time Powerball got there, in the waning days of the summer just three months ago, we can reasonably project when we’ll get there again.

On Wednesday, Aug. 20, the jackpot sat at $650 million — almost identical to the most recent jackpot of $655 million. Jackpot increases tend to be most pronounced for Saturdays, the only drawing of the week with a three-day window for sales. So, on Aug. 23, the jackpot hit $716 million. That was followed on Aug. 25 with $777 million, Aug. 27 with $861 million, and Aug. 30 (another Saturday) with the leap to $1.03 billion.

Just four drawings after $650 million, Powerball crossed a billion bucks.

If the same pattern holds in the days ahead — and, of course, if nobody hits the jackpot in the meantime — that means next Wednesday will be a billion-dollar extravaganza.

Then again, there’s only one Saturday between now and then. And it can be a little tricky to predict how the holiday weekend will impact sales. So, if you want to play it conservative, maybe it happens for the Saturday, Dec. 6 drawing instead. But there’s no realistic chance it won’t happen by then, as long as nobody purchases a perfect six-for-six ticket in the interim.

Latest winning numbers

For Monday’s drawing, the winning numbers were 8, 16, 26, 30, and 58, with a red Powerball of 14. One customer in Illinois nailed the five white balls but not the Powerball and hit for an even $1 million before taxes. The next-highest prize awarded was $50,000 to three separate players.

By Lottery Geeks’ estimates, there were about 15.4 million tickets sold for the Monday drawing. That’s a significant drop from the previous drawing’s 22.4 million — although, that was a Saturday, when sales typically spike.

Mega Millions, meanwhile, is very slowly building back up after a customer in Georgia hit the jackpot for $980 million two Fridays ago. That’s the closest the grand prize has come to $1 billion since Mega Millions increased its ticket price to $5 in April.

Last Friday, with a jackpot of only $60 million, nobody struck gold on numbers 3, 4, 19, 31, 63, and Mega Ball 9. So for Tuesday night’s drawing, the top prize sits at an estimated $70 million, with a cash option of $32.3 million.

Tickets for Mega Millions cost $5, and Powerball tickets cost $2. Most states offer 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:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $1.79 billion, Powerball, Sept. 6, 2025, won in Missouri and Texas
3. $1.76 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
4. $1.6 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
5. $1.59 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
6. $1.54 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
7. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
8. $1.34 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
9. $1.33 billion, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
10. $1.22 billion, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024, won in California

Here is 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. $820.6 million, Powerball, Sept. 6, 2025, won in Missouri and Texas
5. $794.2 million, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
6. $780.5 million, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
7. $776.6 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021, won in Michigan
8. $774.1 million, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
9. $723.5 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
10. $621 million, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon