Minnesotans feeling lucky as $700M Powerball jackpot up for grabs tonight
MINNEAPOLIS -- It has been exactly 12 weeks since a Powerball ticket sold in Pennsylvania won the last grand prize. The jackpot grew quite a bit in the meantime, and, after 35 consecutive rounds without a grand prize winner, stands at an estimated $700 million ahead of Wednesday night's drawing.
The anticipated fund is this year's biggest jackpot so far, according to Powerball, which increased the sum from $680 million earlier this week. It is also the fifth-largest Powerball jackpot and eighth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot.
A lot of Minnesotans, coincidentally, are feeling pretty lucky. A ticket to potential riches was more popular than gas at Bobby and Steve's Auto Shop in Eden Prairie.
"Maybe the first thing I do is quit working," one customer said.
"I would party pretty good," another said.
Some people would spread the wealth of their winnings.
"Probably donate a lot of money to the homeless people here in Minnesota, and probably helping out all our friends down in Florida because that is still a mess down there," one customer said.
Others would use the winnings wander the world.
After Charles Vinson walked out of the auto shop without getting a ticket, he then turned around and came back to get buy one because he had a gut feeling.
"You just need a little push sometimes," he said.
Javon McCaston asked a higher power to help them with the Powerball.
"I did a little prayer, a little five-second prayer," McCaston said.
Powerball Background
Powerball's weekly drawings — which happen on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays — have yielded partial wins for players over the last three months. The most recent drawing gave smaller wins to more than 1.2 million ticket holders, who collectively received $13.7 million in cash prizes, according to the lottery.
There are nine ways to win some amount of money by entering the game, but in order to take home the grand prize, Powerball players must hold tickets with numbers that match all six picked during a given drawing. On Aug. 3, a player whose Pennsylvania ticket was a perfect match won the jackpot, which, at the time, amounted to $206.9 million.
That was the fifth Powerball grand prize won in 2022. In January, winners in California and Wisconsin split the $632.6 million jackpot before a Connecticut winner took home the $185.3 million prize about one month later. In April, an Arizona ticket won $473.1 million, and, in June, the $366.7 million jackpot matched a lottery ticket sold in Vermont.
Those who ultimately claim the next Powerball jackpot have the option to receive their prize as either an immediate lump sum, amounting to an estimated $335.7 million in cash value if someone wins on Wednesday, or as an annuity. The latter option offers to pay out the full jackpot amount over the course of roughly 30 years.
According to Powerball, the odds of winning any prize after entering the game are slightly less than 1 in 25, while odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 292 million. The next Powerball drawing is scheduled to be broadcast live on Wednesday night at 10:59 p.m. ET. Drawings can also be streamed online at Powerball.com.