Powerball jackpot climbs, tops 1.7 billion ahead of Christmas

The Powerball jackpot reached an estimated $1.7 billion as millions of Americans prepared for the Wednesday night drawing at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Christmas Eve. The prize swelled after Monday’s drawing produced no jackpot winner, allowing the payout to roll into the holiday drawing and making this the fourth largest Powerball jackpot on record.

Players who win the jackpot may choose an annuitized payout of $1.7 billion paid over 29 years or a one time lump sum cash option of about $781.3 million before taxes, according to the Powerball website. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. Tickets cost $2 per play and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball drawings are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

Monday’s drawing, which failed to produce a jackpot winner, produced nine secondary prizes of $1 million that were claimed nationwide, and the winning numbers that night were 3, 18, 36, 41 and 54, with a Powerball of 7 and a Power Play multiplier of 2. Power Play is a one dollar add on that can increase non jackpot prize amounts, and in the most recent drawing many non jackpot prizes were doubled for players who purchased the option.

The sheer size of the prize is expected to lift retail traffic at convenience stores and lottery outlets, and historically large jackpots generate a surge in ticket sales that increases revenue for state lottery funds. Those funds often support education and other public spending, making rollovers a significant short term boost to state budgets even as they raise questions about reliance on lottery proceeds for public finance.

This $1.7 billion figure sits below the record Powerball jackpot of $2.04 billion won in California in November 2022, and it follows a string of large prizes in recent years. The jackpot was last won in September when two tickets sold in Missouri and Texas split a $1.787 billion prize, one of the largest in game history. Powerball has been won on Christmas Eve once before in 2011, and there have been four Christmas Day winners in the game’s history, underscoring the holiday as an occasional backdrop for big lottery moments.

For many players the attraction is the sudden possibility of transformative wealth despite the long odds. For state governments and retail sellers the near certainty is a short lived revenue bump that accompanies intense media attention. The drawing will resolve the holiday buildup tonight at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time.