Powerball grows to $1.2 billion after no winner Monday
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For the fourth time this year, a lottery jackpot has entered billion-dollar territory.
Driving the news: The Powerball jackpot grew to an estimated $1.2 billion late Monday, with a cash value of $551.7 million — the third largest U.S. lottery prize of the year.
- It's the first time in Powerball history that back-to-back jackpot runs have generated grand prizes over $1 billion, lottery officials said Monday.
Flashback: The Powerball jackpot was last won on July 19 when a ticket purchased in California was the sole winner of the $1.08 billion jackpot.
- Since then, there have been 31 consecutive drawings with no grand prize winner.
The big picture: Bigger prizes — and fewer jackpot winners — have become the norm for the past few years after the two lotteries made the games harder to win and more enticing to play.
Winning Powerball numbers for Oct. 2 drawing
The winning numbers in Monday's drawing were 12, 26, 27, 43 and 47 with a red Powerball of 5.
Did anyone win the Powerball Monday?
The latest: Nobody matched all six numbers in Monday's drawing, per the Powerball website.
Next Powerball drawing is Wednesday
Powerball drawings are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
- Drawings are at 10:59pm ET and broadcast on the Powerball website and television stations across the country from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee.
How to play Powerball
State of play: Lottery players can pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers — five different numbers from 1 to 69 (the white balls) and one number from 1 to 26 for the red Powerball.
- "Quick Pick" or "Easy Pick" tickets can also be purchased where numbers are selected automatically.
Price of Powerball tickets and Power Play
Powerball tickets are $2 per play but for an extra $1 per play you can add the Power Play feature to "multiply non-jackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 times."
- The multiplier number is randomly selected just before each drawing.
- The Match 5 prize with Power Play is always $2 million, Powerball said.
Between the lines: The 10X multiplier is only in play when the advertised jackpot annuity is $150 million or less, according to the lottery.
Powerball cut-off times: How late to buy tickets
The deadline to purchase tickets for Wednesday's drawing varies by state because Powerball tickets are sold by individual lotteries.
- The cut-off times are typically one to two hours before the drawing, according to Powerball.
States that sell Powerball tickets
Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah do not participate in the lottery.
Odds of winning Powerball
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
- The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9.
- The jackpot odds for Mega Millions are 1 in 303 million.
Yes, but: The odds of being struck by lightning in a year are less than one in a million, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Editor's note: This story was updated with additional information, including an updated chart with the increased Powerball jackpot.
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