Santa might have a gigantic present in his bag on Christmas Eve, when the estimated jackpot for the night’s drawing will be at least an estimated $1.7 billion \u2014 the fourth largest in Powerball and U.S. lottery history.<\/p>\n
That’s because no tickets came up winners of Monday night’s jackpot of an estimated $1.6 billion jackpot<\/a>.<\/p>\n It climbed to $1.7 billion at that point but could go even higher if ticket sales spike leading up to Wednesday night’s drawing.<\/p>\n The winning numbers for that one were 3, 18, 36, 41 and 54, with a Powerball of 7.<\/p>\n Wednesday night’s grand prize would have an estimated lump sum cash value of $781.3 million.<\/p>\n The Powerball jackpot has been won once on Christmas Eve, in 2011, and four times on Christmas Day, the game says. Powerball started in 1992.<\/p>\n Wednesday’s drawing will be the 47th in the current jackpot run, a record for the most in a Powerball jackpot cycle, the game says.<\/p>\n To win the jackpot, a ticket must match all five white balls and the red Powerball pulled during a drawing. A single jackpot winner would\u00a0have the choice<\/a>\u00a0of a lump sum payment or a payout via an annuity that would consist of one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year. Both the lump sum cash estimate and the annuity estimate are before taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The last time a Powerball jackpot was hit was on Sept. 6 in Missouri and Texas, when two tickets split a\u00a0$1.787 billion top prize.<\/a><\/p>\n This is only the second time in the game’s history with back-to-back jackpots exceeding $1 billion, Powerball says.<\/p>\n In 2022, a single ticket sold in Altadena, California, claimed a $2.04 billion jackpot, the\u00a0largest in both Powerball and lottery history<\/a>. The first Powerball drawing was in 1992.<\/p>\n The\u00a0odds of winning the grand prize<\/a>\u00a0are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball.\u00a0Lottery jackpots have exploded in size<\/a>\u00a0over the last decade, while the odds of winning have gotten even slimmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tickets cost $2 each and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 11 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n