Powerball jackpot is up to $1.4 billion after rolling over huge 33 times

07 October 2023 , 11:00

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Millions of people across the US play Powerball every week (Image: AP)

An eye watering $1.4 billion Powerball jackpot is up for grabs after rolling over for 33 consecutive drawings. The life changing figure is on the line Saturday night.

It is the world’s fifth-largest lottery prize ever after steadily building up since the last time someone claimed the top prize on July 19. That streak trails the record of 41 draws set in 2021 and 2022.

The chance of winning the Powerball jackpot is 1 in 292.2million. The $1.4 billion prize is for the winner who is paid through an annuity, with annual checks over 30 years. But most jackpot winners opt for cash, which for Saturday night’s drawing would be an estimated $614 million.

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Store manager Lyya Ly sells a Powerball ticket in Pineville, North Carolina (AP)

Powerball is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A winner on Saturday would break the roll over from July 19 when a tiny neighbourhood store in downtown Los Angeles sold the winning ticket for the Powerball jackpot worth an estimated $1.08 billion, the sixth largest in U.S. history and the third largest in the history of the game.

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The winner can choose either the total jackpot paid out in yearly increments or a $558.1 million lump sum before taxes. Winners don’t have to come forward publicly but their names and the disposition of the money are public records, according to the California Lottery.

The winning ticket was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market, which will receive a $1 million bonus from the lottery. The owner of the store is Maria Leticia Menjivar, lottery spokesperson Carolyn Becker said.

A player shows off the Powerball tickets that he purchased (AP)

Lottery officials presented a giant symbolic check to the owner and her family, including her husband Navor Herrera, the manager, and hung signs saying “billionaire made here.”

Asked about the store’s million-dollar windfall, Mr Herrera set his sights on the future. “I have to make more bigger store, more items, good service for the people. That’s my thing now,” he said.

Since then it has grown three times a week, with each drawing on Mondays, Wednesday and Saturdays without a winner. It started at $21 million on July 22 and after 33 straight drawings in which no one matched all six numbers drawn, it has reached $1.4 billion for Saturday night’s drawing.

A display panel advertises tickets for a Powerball drawing at a convenience store (AP)

That winless streak shouldn’t be a surprise because it shows the game is operating as it was designed. The immense jackpot odds of 1 in 292.2 million are intended to make winning rare so the grand prizes can grow so large. People may say they would be satisfied with winning a smaller sum, but it’s the giant jackpots that prompt people to drop a few dollars on a Powerball ticket at the mini mart.

When someone wins the big prize and the jackpot reverts to about $20 million, sales drop dramatically. Those sales then rise steadily along with the top prize.

For Wednesday night’s drawing, roughly 25 per cent of the 292.2 million possible Powerball combinations were selected, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association. That was up from about 20 per cent for the drawing Monday night. The lottery association forecasts that for Saturday night’s drawing, sales will increase enough that nearly 38 per cent of number combinations will be covered — in part because Saturday sales usually are higher.

Of course, people can win when jackpots are relatively small, as the odds never change, but the fewer tickets purchased, the less likely there will be a winner.

Charlie Jones