Powerball Jackpot of $747 Million Closes to 9th Biggest

DES MOINES, Iowa. The $747 million Powerball jackpot will be up for grabs on Monday night for players willing to risk $2 despite the huge odds of winning a big prize.

No one has won the jackpot since November 19, 2022, allowing the prize to increase with each of the game’s three weekly draws. It is now the ninth largest in US history.

The horrendous 1 in 292.2 million game odds are designed to create big prizes that attract more players. This strategy has certainly worked lately, with someone winning a $1.35 billion Mega Millions prize in January and a player from California hitting a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot last November. No one claimed any of these prizes.

The $747 million jackpot is for winners who choose an annuity that pays out over 29 years. Higher interest rates allowed these annuity payments to be higher than earlier jackpots, when the rates were lower.

Most winners prefer cash, which would have been $403.1 million for a Monday night draw.

Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

• $2.04 billion Powerball November 8, 2022 (one ticket from California)
• $1.586 billion Powerball January 13, 2016 (three tickets from California, Florida and Tennessee)
• $1.537 billion Mega Millions October 23, 2018 (single ticket from South Carolina)
• $1.35 billion Mega Millions January 13, 2023 (one ticket from Maine)
• $1.337 billion Mega Millions July 29, 2022 (one ticket from Illinois)
• $1.05 billion Mega Millions January 22, 2021 (one ticket from Michigan)
• $768.4 million Powerball March 27, 2019 (one ticket from Wisconsin)
• $758.7M Powerball August 23, 2017 (one ticket from Massachusetts)
• $731.1 million Powerball January 20, 2021 (one ticket from Maryland)
• $699.8 million Powerball October 4, 2021 (one ticket from California)