It has been three months since Powerball last produced a winner, which has caused the lottery’s jackpot to climb gradually.
After initially announcing that Saturday's lottery would be the third-largest drawing ever at $1.5 billion, Powerball upped Saturday's jackpot to a record $1.6 billion. The previously largest U.S. lottery jackpot was the Jan. 13, 2016 Powerball drawing, which was worth $1.586 billion.
Saturday's jackpot marks the fifth time in U.S. history a multi-state lottery has offered a jackpot over $1 billion.
Powerball has gone 39 consecutive drawings without a winner.
The odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 292 million. There have been four winning Powerball tickets sold in 2022
The Powerball jackpot has grown since a winning ticket was sold on Aug. 3.
Powerball also has prizes of $4 up to $2 million. The odds of winning a smaller prize are about 1 in 25. There were nearly 7.2 million winning tickets for smaller prizes on Wednesday. Among the smaller prizes, 19 tickets on Wednesday hit all five white balls, which pays out at least $1 million.
Saturday will mark Powerball’s 40th drawing since it last produced a winner. It would tie the longest streak of Powerball drawings without a winner if no one wins on Saturday.
Powerball is played in 45 states and Washington, D.C.
