Introduction
The Powerball jackpot climbed to $543 million this week, making the grand prize the latest in a series of massive lottery payouts exceeding the $500 million mark, just two months after a lucky ticket holder won the second-largest prize in lottery history.
Key Facts
The Powerball jackpot increased this week after no winning tickets were sold in Saturday night’s drawing, raising the total to $543 million, with a cash value of $272.2 million, making it the 23rd-largest jackpot in lottery history.
The Big Number
$2.04 billion. That was the amount the Powerball jackpot reached last November, the largest prize in U.S. lottery history. A ticket holder in Altadena, California, won that prize, although it was estimated they would take home about $628 million after federal taxes, if the winner chose the cash amount spread over 30 annual payouts. The second-largest jackpot in lottery history was won in October when a ticket holder in California won $1.76 billion ($487.7 million after taxes).
Surprising Fact
The dramatic rise in huge lottery jackpots in recent years can be partly attributed to a series of rule changes in the Powerball and Mega Millions formats, making the odds of winning the grand prizes much longer, but giving players more chances to win smaller prizes. Powerball changed its format in 2015 by increasing the number of white balls available to choose from 59 to 69, while the number of red Powerballs available decreased from 35 to 26 (players must match five white balls and the Powerball to win the jackpot). This change reduced the odds of winning the jackpot from 1 in 175.2 million to 1 in 292.2 million, although it increased players’ chances of winning the smaller $4 lottery prize to 1 in 92. In 2017, Mega Millions made a similar change, worsening the odds of winning the jackpot from 1 in 258.9 million to 1 in 302.6 million.
Appendix
The Mega Millions jackpot stands at $41 million, with a cash option of $20.4 million, following the sale of two winning tickets in California for a $394 million prize earlier this month. The next Mega Millions drawing is at 11 p.m. on Tuesday.
Further Reading
Here are the top 10 lottery jackpots of all time – Mega Millions reaches $910 million
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