Powerball grows to $856 million, largest drawing of the year

If you only pay attention when the Powerball jackpot enters record territory, now is the time to play. The drawing on Saturday night has grown to the largest total of the year: $856 million.

For those who choose to take the lump sum, the total works out to $370.7 million. Of course, both of those numbers are before taxes.

This is also the eighth-largest Powerball jackpot of all-time. It will have to crack the milestone $1 billion mark to enter the top seven. When including Mega Millions jackpots, Saturday’s drawing is the 16th-largest in U.S. history.

“Entering the top 10 largest Powerball jackpots is when we historically see a lot of players join in the game,” Stephen Durrell, Powerball Product Group chair and Kansas Lottery executive director, said in a statement.

The largest Powerball jackpot — and largest lottery jackpot period — ever won was a single $2.04 billion ticket sold in California in November 2022. However, no jackpot has ever crossed the $1 billion mark for a lump sum payment. Even that record drawing won by Edwin Castro back in 2022 was worth “only” $997.6 million.

There’s also a new wrinkle to this jackpot. It will be the first won by someone not just competing with 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands — it will also be the first jackpot won with people in the United Kingdom participating.

Powerball tickets began being sold in the U.K. on July 21, and, if no one wins, the jackpots should grow faster with the addition of more players.

The jackpot was last won on May 2. There have been 41 unsuccessful drawings since then. There have been plenty of smaller victories though, including a $1 million winner in Ohio for matching all five white balls in Wednesday’s drawing.

The drawing will take place on Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET. The odds of winning the top prize are a daunting 1 in 292.2 million.