Powerball climbs to $1.4 billion after no winner Wednesday
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The Powerball jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.4 billion Thursday after no one matched all numbers in Wednesday night's drawing.
Driving the news: The jackpot has an estimated cash value of $643.7 million and is the nation's fifth-largest lottery prize ever.
- It's the largest Powerball jackpot of the year and the first time in the game's history that back-to-back jackpot runs have generated grand prizes over $1 billion, lottery officials said Wednesday.
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.
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 32 consecutive drawings with no grand prize winner.
Winning Powerball numbers for Oct. 4 drawing
The winning numbers in Wednesday's drawing were 9, 35, 54, 63 and 64 with a red Powerball of 1.
Did anyone win the Powerball Wednesday?
The latest: Nobody matched all six numbers in Wednesday's drawing, per the Powerball website.
Next Powerball drawing is Saturday
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 the 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.
Powerball ticket price and Power Play cost
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.
When do they stop selling Powerball 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.
These states 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.
Powerball jackpot odds
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 the Powerball numbers for Oct. 4 and increased jackpot amount after no one matched all six numbers.
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